Avengers and Slayers
by rafmere
Summary: Xander and a slayer team join the Avengers before they become the Avengers.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own either the Buffy verse or the Marvel verse. 'Nough said. You can Google-Fu the current owners... if you really want to.

**Stuttgart Germany**

**Part I**

Xander growled "Unbelievable! Not even five minutes. Can we never-ever catch a break?" he directed his gaze to the heavens.

"Let's face it Boytoy. You signed up for this life of your own free will. No one dragged you in. " Faith put the pedal to the metal as she rounded another corner at speeds a formula one racer would have envied. It helped that Xander let her rent a GT2RS Porsche with only a bit of nagging and a lot of innuendo.

Dawn saw the sports car screech into the turn and cringed in fear as Bobbi, her slayer followed suit. "Noooooo!" her terror filled protest went unheeded.

"Ya know... You can be such a wuss..." she finished the turn and sped after Faith, "...sometimes."

Dawn looked at the six-foot, busty blonde slayer in horror. "Take that back you, you car driving disaster in the making..." she spluttered indignantly momentarily forgetting her terror.

"Hey I just call 'em as I see 'em." Bobbi grinned and gunned the engine and caught up with the senior slayer.

The German police vehicles ahead of Faith exploded as they arrived at the location. She saw a greasy, but good-looking bad in green armor and a glow-y spear about to take out some old guy standing up defiantly in the kneeling crowd. "Oh no you don't. Take the wheel..." she jumped out of the speeding one ton bullet knowing that Xander had her back.

As she raced to intercept the obviously attack she glimpsed a funky looking military jet arrive at the scene. Some guy wearing a flag dropped in front of the old man and took the brunt of the magic laser beam on a shield of all things.

Xander took the opportunity to slam the out of control car into the Big Bad.

The speeding sports car slammed into a hastily erected barrier of some sort. Xander wound up thrown through the front windshield. Right at the feet of the mean, green glow-y spear wielding Bad.

"What have we here? Heroes to the right, heroes to the left, and bungling would be knights at my feet. I am Loki of the Asgard. You would dare challenge me?"

Xander struggled to stand up. His stamina better than any human had a right to be after the many possessions and magical mishaps be had survived after all these years as a Scooby. "Is that the best you can do? Your Quip-Fu is in need of an upgrade."

'Durable sort. He'll do as a distraction.' Loki charged the spear and touched the tip to the human's head.

"AAAREEEEGGHHHHH!" Xander's world became pure agony as yet another entity tried to take over his already much too crowded head. His eye glowed silver and the other beneath the eye patch glowed brilliant green. The patch muted the glow somewhat.

"Wha...ugh!" Loki was interrupted from examining this interesting development any further as beam of green energy hit from his right, a bright pulse from above and a spinning shiny shield from the front. Each attack on its own was formidable enough, but together they blew through his defenses and knocked him off his feet.

When he recovered he saw that he was surrounded by several warriors of both magical and technological might. "I give up." That was part of the plan after all.

**Part II**

**SHIELD VTOL**

**Somewhere over the Atlantic**

"I've never seen something like this before..." Tony Stark was mystified by the phenomena in front of him. "His eye is rebuilding itself with, with that green energy." Tony turned to the tall, willowy and drop dead gorgeous girl, woman, whatever who's glowing hands were hovering over the mystery man. "How are you even doing that? Are you a mutant? Has he ever been exposed to gamma radiation?"

The rapid fire questions distracted Dawn from what she was doing trying to stabilize Xander. "Magic. No and gamma what?" she looked up at Faith.

Faith got the message and hauled the red and gold armored hottie off Dawn so she could concentrate on Xander.

"Say pal. Why don't we leave little B to her work. Maybe I can handle your questions?" Faith put so much innuendo into the word handle that every man spaced out for a moment.

After his brain rebooted Tony noticed that the Bombshell had physically moved him back armor and all.

"You girls are full of surprises. Are you sure you're not mutants? Not that there's anything wrong with mutants, but..."

Faith smirked at Stark and a waved at her leather clad body, ending with her finger-pointing at her ass, "Does this say mutant to you?"

"No. No it doesn't. It says something else, say are you free Saturday night?" Tony couldn't help but admire the smoking hot beauty on display.

"Put it back in its holster Stark. Bobbi what were you and Director Harris doing in Germany?" Natasha Romanov gave Bobbi Morse a focused stare.

"Need to know Widow, and you don't need to know." Bobbi smirked at the frustrated agent. Becoming a slayer was the best thing that ever happened to her. Telling the Widow off without any repercussions; icing on the cake.

Dawn tuned out all the distraction and focused on Xander. She took out several crystals and put one each at a cardinal point and hopped they didn't hit any turbulence before she was done.

Loki looked with interest. "He's a Primal? Isn't he?" Loki was ignored. He really didn't care, after all what did the opinion of insects matter to a God like him?

Dawn started to bleed the excess energy from Xander. The crystals started to glow; dimly at first but within a few minutes they shone like miniature light suns.

"How the hell are you doing that?" Tony wanted to know how the girl was making her own Tesseracts. Not just one, but four, sure not the same order of power magnitude, but come on.

Loki raised his eye brows. Sure they maybe insects, but clearly some of them would be talented insects. This one he would keep when it was time for him to take over as the supreme ruler of this planet.

Xander jerked from the floor of the transport, as if his tongue was plugged into an electrical outlet. "Ahhhhhh! What the hell did you do?" Xander zeroed in on the space God without having to look for him. One eye was a blazing silver beacon while the other was glowing green beneath the eye-patch.

"How utterly fascinating. How is it that you still retain your own will?" Loki studied the swirling energies that were a part of this new chaotic creature.

"Wouldn't you like to know...Asswipe! Dawn sit-rep." Xander kept the space god in focus while he ignored the colorful people behind him. He was also aware that Faith was hanging all over Stark and Bobbi was about to throw down with the Widow. "Bobbi stand down. Faith... a little less Faithness."

Dawn started to brief Xander while ignoring the commotion from the peanut gallery. She stopped when the big guy with the wings painted on the side of his blue helmet came up behind Xander. She saw the determined look on his face stopped talking to give Xander a chance to handle the big guy however he wanted. She let Xander know that she had his back if he needed it.

Xander wordlessly let her know that he knew that the guy with the star on his chest was right behind him. He let her know that he would handle it. He gave her a smile that said he appreciated the backup anyway. Without turning around Xander asked, "What can I do for you Captain Rogers?"

Steve stopped in his tracks. He lowered the hand that was about to land on the young man's shoulder. "Who are you?"

Xander turned and with his trademarked smile, "Hey, Xander Harris. Pleased to meet you. Big, big fan. Heck my whole family are big fans, ever since you saved my grand-pappy's butt back in WW II, although he kept on calling it a hydra camp for some reason. No one could figure out why he was so set on describing the Nazi prison camp as an ancient Greek myth.

"You're Sgt. Harris' grandson..." Steve back up a couple of steps to reassess what he knew of this young man so far. He commanded at least a couple of super-powered operatives. The brazen one Faith and the young woman child Dawn. From Natasha's confrontation, he got the impression that Bobbi Morse may have been an agent of SHIELD. If this young man was calling the shots, then there was obviously more to him. He remembered that Harris was a good man. Not much fazed him. He took the worst that Hydra had to offer and went back for more. He was one of the more reliable men he worked with. "... How's Buster doing? I mean is he still alive..." Steve was getting flustered with this line of inquiry. He hated being so out of touch. It made him botch simple sentence structure and muddied communication.

"Its okay Cap. I understand. 'Gramps still around and kicking. As big a grouch as he ever was. The real God bless the old coot."

"Real God..." Steve wondered what the young man was talking about.

"Oh yeah sure. You know the one. With the son and the Holy Spirit and the cross repelling vampires and holy blessed water that burns some, but unfortunately not all the ungodlies... So yeah..."

Steve let the young babble while he processed the information. He appreciated the fact that the young Harris at least knew about vampires and how to fight them. "It's alright Mr. Harris I know all about vampires. I have had to deal with a couple of Nazi nest in the past. Surprisingly or maybe not come to think of it your grandfather was most helpful in how to deal with the blood suckers. It was like he grew up knowing all about it, but that can't be right... can it?"

"With Granddad nothing surprises me anymore. This one time I got dressed as a soldier for Halloween and used gramps old uniforms. I think it was the one he wore in Vietnam. Anyway after that killing vamps sure became a lot easier since then."

"Vampires are a big problem where you come from?" Steve wanted to know if this was another war he would have to prepare himself to fight after this one was done.

"Not for a while now. We have the vamps on the run; it's the other nasty critters out there that we have to worry about nowadays."

"Whoa hold on there fellas. You can't be seriously having a conversation with words like vampires in it." Tony Stark broke into the conversation. "I mean come on. Aliens are one thing, but vampires..."

"What's that?" Xander pointed at the green clad ears-dropper.

"I think it's called a Loki..." Tony thought he knew where the punk was going with his point, but then again.

"Um no. Not so much the person, but the mythology his people created when they visited a few vikings long ago. Their confrontations with the other powers that were around back then, that were playing with the poor humans led to the creation of the Asgardian Pantheon. Vampires are real. Demons are real and so are Aliens it seems. What kind are we talking about?"

"What kind of what? Hold on... What are you talking about?"

"No. What are you talking about? Don't tell me that the poor billionaire is confused. I thought you were a lot smarter than that? I guess I was wrong." Bobbi switched from her stare down with the Black widow to half concentrate on giving the playboy billionaire genius a nasty smile. The expensive prosthetic, as she once heard him describe the power armor suit in front of a senate hearing not long ago hid a lot of his body language, but not all. She knew she hit a nerve when his face turned as red as his armor.

"Hey! Hey. Are you mocking me?" Tony couldn't believe his ears. This gorgeous, busty, blonde amazon; who so was his type was mocking him. He would have hit on her if it wasn't for the other drop dead gorgeous brunet who was openly flirting with him. But oh how that boat has sailed. He wouldn't flirt with her if she begged him... okay, maybe if she begged, in a nice blue teddy that would bring out her eyes. They were worthy of being worshiped. What was he thinking about? Oh yeah he was outraged, because she was mocking him.

"Just call me the little Mockingbird that could." she smiled a nasty little smile that was guaranteed to make grown men cry.

"Hey Bobbi ease up. He's not a bad guy." Faith came to the defense of the red and gold would be avenger.

"I am taking it easy. You don't see me peeling him out of that tin can do you." Bobbi was once again challenging Faith for the Top Bitch slot in the Slayer order. No one was going to take Buffy's Title as The Slayer while she was still live and kicking. She was the 'Legend' Faith was a Slayer who was down to earth. She was the last chosen and held the coveted toughest 'Bitch' title. And she so was the bitch to take over that spot.

"GIRLS! Not Now! 'Sides. We have guests coming." Xander got his people under control. Steve sensed that something was up and prepared to deal with anything that might intrude. What he wasn't ready for was the way the new guest made his presence known.

Thor the God of Thunder had just ripped a hatch locate at the top of the transport. He dropped into the supersonic plane and made his way to his step brother Loki. He was challenged by several earth warriors, he did not have the time to be gentle with them. Words were exchanged and a challenge issued. Again he had to deal with his brother first. He could not honor the human's requests. He grabbed Loki and Jumped into the stormy sky. Behind him he left several factions divided against each other.

To be continued.


	2. Chapter 2

**Getting to know you...**

Disclaimer: I don't own either the Buffy verse or the Marvel verse.

**Part III  
**

* * *

"Where are you going?" Steve looked around at the assembled agents and guests. He tried to gage their reactions, but he didn't know half the people well enough to predict how they would have jumped. He hoped this confrontation with Stark would give him enough information to come up with a workable strategy. He already knew that Stark would grandstand. It was his way. No guts, all glory.

"I'm going after them." Tony told the supposedly older man.

"We need an attack plan."

"I already have a plan. I attack." Tony put action to words, closed his face plate and zipped out of the transport.

Xander could see the frustration build inside the man out of time. As the agents were rushing about Xander approached Steve, "You coming with?"

Steve looked at the young man in confusion for a second, but it didn't last long. He nodded his head and got ready to follow. As they were about to jump, he noticed that Xander wasn't wearing a parachute. "Wher..."

With a smile Xander jumped. Steve jumped after him trying to catch the other man before he killed himself.

Steve tucked in and arrowed after the young man of questionable sanity. He caught an out stretched wrist. Xander just smirked again and with his free hand he caught Steve's right arm with a vise like grip. Steve estimated that the young man was just as strong as he was if not stronger.

"How are you this strong? Are you a super soldier as well?"

"Well now that you mention it, a little bit from column a, and a little bit from column b." Xander got a better grip and toned down the new stronger him, it wasn't like he was new to the whole super strength thing. It's just that this was the first time he was in charge of his own body. He was so planning on enjoying himself this time. "Ya see Cap it's like this. First you're born into a harsh and unforgiving environment where only the strong and fleet of foot survive. Then mystical possessions and shit happens and at one point your the unwilling participant in a Russian version of the super soldier program, only with fish as the theme. When the green bozo dumped all that extra energy into me he ran into a shitload of protection spells and a massive build up of anti-possession resistance for well over a decade. All that energy had to go somewhere and I've got all these nifty open pathways ready to soak up all that delicious but painful energy. Ya know, like a five alarm chili, but without all that extra gastronomic melodrama. Now if only I can get rid of the glow in the dark afterglow, I'll be all set. Oh hey. There they are. "He pointed out the devastated landscape where the two engines of destruction were still going at it. Xander concentrated on activating one of Willow's better birthday presents. The rune, tattooed on his back glowed silver under his clothes and he and the Captain started to slow down.

"Are we slowing down?" Steve could detect the difference in the wind resistance right away.

"Yeppers. Another wonderful gift from my best ever bestest bud in the world and a whole lot of guilt. Every birthday she tries to give me these crazy impractical gifts, except for this one. A Feather-fall tattoo. I never had the energy to make full use of it before, but now I don't think that will be a problem anymore." the glowing eye faded a bit more, like an inner glow, than the flashlight effect he had going. As he thought on it Xander figured that this would at least be one option to tone down the freaky, that and sunglasses.

"This 'Feather-fall is what's slowing us down? Something like controlling gravity?" he guessed from what the name implied.

"Oh kudos Captain Ever-bright. You're a sharp one. Gotta remember that. That boy scout thing you got going is one very effective mask. Kudos I say."

Steve could see from Xander's joyous smile that he meant it as a compliment, so he didn't take it as the insult it might have been to someone else. His estimates of this young man kept going up and up. At the very least he appeared to be another super soldier with physical abilities on par to his own gifts and add in the other unusual surprises he had up his sleeve along with his now obvious analytical abilities and perceptions and you had one very dangerous young man. However the same thing could be said about him, so he wasn't too worried. Natasha and agent Coulson obviously knew who he was and they knew about the girls as well, at least some of them; from the showdown between the Black Widow and ex-agent Bobbi Morse. There was history there and it wasn't a history of the good kind, but it wasn't of the shoot on sight variety either. He'd reserve judgment for now until further evidence said otherwise.

"Will you look at those two tearing up the landscape? Say, I've got a construction and demolitions company. Do you think those two might be interested?" Xander paused for a moment as Steve gave him a look that said what are you smoking and keep it away from me, and I hope to god it's not contagious.

"Okay I get it. Stark's not cheap, but I was hoping to throw Faith in to sweeten the deal, but she's already blown that by throwing herself at him already, so that's out. And I don't think that gods are any cheaper... say, where's the pain in the butt? Oh... does that look right to you?" Xander was aware of Loki's location as soon as he asked that question. That was something he didn't need to know, but it was better to know where Mr. Trouble was than to have him backstabbing you when you least expected it. Again a case of better the devil you know and where he was at all times.

"Oh. I see what you mean. He's not even hiding the fact that he should at least try to escape."

"Arrogance. Gotta love it. That and monologuing. How else are you supposed to guess what the Big Bads have planned without it?"

"See that cliff? Put us there if you can." Steve pointed out the cliff overlooking the two combatants as they took a slight breather from taking each other apart.

"Your W word is my command oh Captain my Captain." again with the smirk. Steve got the impression that Xander didn't say much without using that smirk of his. He made a note to have a private word with the young man when he had the chance. He could see that the fighting had resumed and it was getting nasty. As soon as his feet touched the ground he moved to quickly put an end to the slug fest. Loki wasn't going anywhere. He looked like he was enjoying a dinner show. Escape was the last thing on his mind. He hated it when villains like him and the Red Skull thought nothing could touch them.

He took aim with his shield and threw. He noticed that Xander had pulled a black sword from somewhere. He didn't know where and hopped it wasn't from out of his ass. Nothing that young man did surprised. Shocked him... a big old 'Yes', but not surprised. He was now a permanent fixture on his danger awareness meter. It just didn't do to let anyone that dangerous run loose without some kind of supervision.

"Hey!" The thrown shield hit the Asgardian first and Stark second, "That's enough!" he jumped off the cliff, Xander followed right behind him. His decent was a bit slower than his. "Now I don't know what you plan on doing here..."

Thor didn't let him finish, "I've come to put an end to Loki's schemes."

"Then prove it." Steve challenged the still pissed off Prince of Asgard. "Put that Hammer down."

"Uh, not yet no. Bad call. He loves this thing..." Stark had a bad feeling about this. And there it was, Thor bitch slapped him away.

"Jeez Cap. Even I know you don't tell a god to disarm." Xander shook his head and got ready to receive the hurt about to come down his way. Steve didn't look like he had a care in the world. The man had 'Balls' Big ones even. At least two tons he estimated. 'Where can I get me rocks that size?' he wondered. 'Here it comes.' He got his black sword into the en-guard position.

"You want me to put the Hammer down..?" Thor yelled not really expecting an answer. His rage was upon him and he would let that speak for him. He jumped the thirty feet separating him from the knights and brought the Hammer down with his full might.

The shock waves from the impact were enough to throw everyone in all directions. Like leaves in a hurricane, generated by a Storm God called Thor.

'Shit I knew that was gonna happen. Still I wonder where I can get a cool shield like that one... maybe Wills will have one for my next birthday? Nah, better not ask. With my luck it'll have its own personality and try to tell me how to run my life, not like I don't already have enough of those in my life.' he noticed the others getting up and found out that his body was able to absorb the shock better than he had anticipated. He knew there were a few improvement and that he was pretty resilient to begin with. Olaf's Troll God Hammer had proved that to him. This however the next level in the new and improved Xander Harris it seemed.

"Are we done now?" Captain America asked when everyone was back on their feet.

Xander put away his sword and winced when it disappeared. He really didn't like the sword, but the girls had insisted.  
He needed a big equalizer for those special occasions when 'IT' had to die and no one else was around to get the job done. His girls knew him so well. Go figure. "Where's Loki?" he asked knowing where the Butt munch was without even looking. It had to be said to get the others thinking about a common enemy and forget about getting back to busting heads. Preferably not his Xander shaped head. The girls liked him so much better with his head right where it was thank very much, and he so didn't want to test just how his new resilience would stand up to a Dwarf forged, Rune Hammer wielded by a Legendary God with berserker tendencies.

"I'll get him." Stark told them and flew towards the chaos god without giving Thor a chance to challenge the decision. He looked like a guy who would challenge every decision, sorta like him. There was only room for one prima donna here, and that was him.

Iron Man grabbed the unresisting green clad trouble maker and flew back to the assembled pains in the ass. He just knew the kid would be just as much trouble as the big over grown boy scout was shaping up to be. He felt it down to his bones.

*Sir. The SHIELD transport has arrived.* JARVIS announced.

"I can see that JARVIS. Thank you for stating the obvious." he saw the sad look on the kids face. "What's with the mopey look kid?" he asked. He wasn't interested, but it didn't hurt to make nice with the kid that had so many gorgeous girls hagging around him.

"It's like this. I got this kick ass sword, but I never get to use it." his sad expression sent a shiver through Tony's bones. 'It figured. Hot girls only hang around bad boys and psychos. And the kid didn't look all that bad...'

"Come on. Let's get back to the ship. It's Fury's job to figure out what's our next move."

"You mean Nicky's involved? As my best pal would say 'Oy Vey!' Nothing of the good could come of that meddler getting his fingers in this mess."

To be continued...


	3. Chapter 3

Part IV

* * *

Tony flew to the landing pad of the Stark Towers. Faith was in his arms bridal style. She didn't mind. His favorite red, greeted them with a raised eyebrow. That is Pepper Potts and not Natasha the liar Romanova aka Natalie Rushman. "Um... Hi?"

"Hi..." one eyebrow lowered, as to say who's this?

"Have you met Faith before?" Tony tried to use his charm, but Pepper was not having any of that.  
"So that's your red headed keeper. Hi I'm Faith." Faith looked her up and down as if she was ready to devour Pepper on the spot.

Pepper took several steps back. Knowing Tony she wouldn't put it past him to bring home a man and in this case a woman eater.

"She followed me home. Can we keep her?" Tony's mind wondered to that place it usually goes to when hot woman are around him. This was a place only some teenage minds drowning in testosterone dwelt.

"Followed you home? From two thousand feet?" Pepper wasn't really buying Tony's usual crap, mainly due to the way this Faith was stalking her. Like a big cat with a really delicious chew toy. She so didn't want to be this toy. She retreated some more. Faith advanced faster. She caught her prey and started the circle her. "T, Tony..." she panicked. The man eater was about to pounce, when out of nowhere a ton of whipped cream drenched both women. The two women stopped their predator and prey game and looked at Tony with synced raised eyebrows.

"What? What?... Okay, okay. No one accused me of being slow. The whipped cream was a bit much. wasn't it."

"Ya think?" Faith growled.

"What she growled." added Pepper.

A thrown spitball nailed Tony in the forehead.

"Hm. You needed something Faith?" Tony inquired innocently.

"You were dreaming about me. I'd bet whipped cream was involved."

"How did you know?"

"There's always whipped cream involved when someone drools over me. It's a given. Just ask the X-Man..."

"STARK!" yelled Nick Fury.

"WHAT?" Tony yelled back.

"Leave the Slayer alone. Now's not the time to let you libido run away with whatever's left of your thinking capacity."

"He he. I can still so make them drool." Faith looked smugly at Bobbi Morse.

"Old men don't count." Bobbi tried again to stir something with Faith.

"Bobbi. Not a good idea to start a war on another front. You need to resolve the one with the Widow first, before bringing in Faith into this one. And I so prefer you not start anything during a freaking apocalypse."

"Yeah. At least she got style." Faith looked the Widow up and down again. "I love your leathers. Don't let the little bitch intimidate you."

Natasha tilted her head in Bobbi's direction, "So not a problem." outwardly she dismissed Bobbi, but it was just an act. she would never ever dismiss any slayer. They were just too fucking dangerous at close range. A lot of them could also sense when a sniper rifle was pointed in their direction, not all, but most. Only the dim ones ignored that feeling that someone really had it in for them. Usually the arrogant ones.

"Director Harris could you please keep your girls under better control." Nick complained.

"I'd like to see you try Nicky old boy. Don't worry, I'll even pick up your medical bills if you survive, if not I'll cover all the funeral expenses. Boy scouts honor" Xander gave the scout salute.

"You were never a boy scout Harris." Nick wasn't buying what Xander was selling. He had a meeting to run and the watcher's girls were railroading it just by being in the room.

Thor had a smile on his face. Watching the Valkyrie joust for position amongst themselves reminded him of some of Sif's friends and how they usually treated amongst themselves. It was good to see that their earth counterparts were made of the same cloth.

"Leave the pretty girls alone Fury. They're keeping the other guy calm for some reason." Bruce Banner came to the girls defense. The one called Dawn calmed his inner beast just by being in the room. Every time he came near the calmer he got. He wasn't about to let Fury drive them out. Screw him and his head games.

"You're shitting me." Fury did not like that development. It gave the watchers too much of an edge, and they really, really need one.

"I shit you not. Get them out of the room and see how the atmosphere will change. You. Will. Not. Like. It." Bruce's smile had a nasty edge to it. With the girls still in the room he could let a bit of edge leak into his emotions without having to worry about losing control for once.

"I'm for whatever keeps the good doctor nice and calm boss." Natasha's job was to monitor the good doctor's mood swings, and if Faith and her friends were keeping the Hulk away, she was all for it. Faith she liked instantly. Morse she could do without, but for every plus in her life there's a negative. It's been like that her entire very long life.

"I have to agree with Natasha on this one boss. Keeping the 'Big Green Guy' calm is a very desirable goal. We are at fifty thousand feet after all."

"You too Phil?"

"Truth is Truth boss." the simple statement settled that argument.

Fury didn't like it but he couldn't argue with his best agent. They did have a valid point after all.

Bobbi was still seething from having to deal with both Faith and the Widow. When Natasha was busy with her ex-boss her inner slayer goaded her to show Faith who was the alpha in this room.

She went after Faith, but before she could land a blow Xander grabbed her while she was in the air, before she could reach Faith. 'The hell just happened? I didn't even see the boss move.' she struggled to get out of his grip, but it was no go. He had her and she wasn't ready to go all out against her boss. It was Xander after all.

* * *

Xander held the enraged slayer in a vise like grip. He was surprised that he was able to hold her. He knew that he got an upgrade but he didn't think it was this much of an upgrade. Bobbi was one of the stronger slayers after Buffy and Faith. She was rated up to at least four to five tons. "Bobbi please calm down. Tell me what's wrong? Please." Xander tried everything he could to get through to his slayer. "Bobbi!" he shouted, "Look into my eyes. Calm down."

Bobbi Morse obeyed her watcher's command despite the need she felt the punch Faith's face in. The second she looked into Xander's eye, she got sucked in. The glow invaded her mind through the link to her soul. She guessed that the old adage must be true. The eyes are the gateways to the soul.

The more she stared the calmer she got. She felt safe in Xander's strong arms. All slayer felt safe and loved when Xander was around. According to slayer legend as told by Willow Rosenberg herself, when Xander resuscitated Buffy in the master's cave a portion of the slayer essence mixed with his soul, and that essence judged that the man was worthy of the slayers attentions. A pale copy of that essence stayed behind in Buffy Summers. When Xander bought her back the dark energy from the opened Hellmouth poured into Buffy re-energizing the copy, thus creating the second slayer line. Buffy never saw Xander as a worthy mate. She judged him too weak. The departing slayer spirit however had to pass through his very soul. A pure soul. A soul strengthened by the merger with the Hyena Primal. A soul worthy of being called a mate.

Ever since then every slayer to come after Buffy Summers had felt some kind of connection with Xander Harris. To some he was a lover, to the younger slayers he was the accepting father who took care of them and loved them like no one else. To others he was a brother. A comrade in arms they could always count on to stand by their side, no matter who they faced.

When Bobbi Morse reconnected to that primal essence her inner slayer recognized its pack mate. She knew that to Xander she was pack. She let the connection solidify and welcomed her pack mate, her brother with all her heart. The moment she did that all other influences were flushed from her system, and she did as Xander asked. She calmed down.

"Xander something's not right. Sure I want to challenge Faith for the title, but not like this. I'm sure that whatever it is it's affecting Faith just like it was effecting me." She could see that Xander believed her. Relief flooded her body and she relaxed for the first time she set foot on this giant flying tub.

Xander saw Faith advance on Bobbi and recognized the truth of Bobbi's words. Faith was under the influence. He would have to do the same thing for Faith as he did for Bobbi.

"Faith come here." his command stopped Faith's advance. Look into my eye. He told her firmly. Faith did just as Xander ordered and she fell into Xander's soul the same way Bobbi did a minute earlier. the same thing happened with Faith as with Bobbi, but the difference between Bobbi and Faith was that Faith had already claimed Xander as a lover and a mate. A mate she has kept at arms length due to her emotional insecurities. Xander brought her back into the new pack.

Dawn sensed something was amiss with her teammates and went to join them. To see what she could do to help. Faith looked at Dawn and back to Xander she nodded once and gave her approval. She had been sharing Xander with Dawn for a while now. Might as well make it official.

Dawn fell into Xander's eye and she connected to the new pack. Her ties to her team strengthened, and her issues with Faith sharing her Xander were finally resolved. They were pack after all. It was the right thing to do. For them.

"What are we going to do. If it can effect the slayers like this it's bound to be felt by everyone else sooner or later." Dawn looked to Xander for answers. He was the insightful one off the group after all.

"I think we have a bit of time yet. Whatever is attacking us had an effect on the slayers because they're more in tune with their darker nature, but you're right Dawnie, eventually it will catch up to all of us."

"What about you BoyToy? You have a pretty dark streak yourself if I recall."

"I have a little more resistance to this kind of mental manipulation than most Faith. All that crap I've went throughout the years have built some tolerance I can feel it now that I know what to look for. Nothing is directing it... I mean there's no guiding intelligence behind it. It's like a version of the Hellmouth energies. It's just there, it doesn't care what will happen, it knows that something will. Good. Bad. I just doesn't care. I know numb nuts is probably behind it. Just not sure how he's doing it from that airtight cell Fury put him in."

"Now that we know it's there it's easier to ignore. The pack bond also helps in diffusing the effect. It's less concentrated when the burden is shared." Bobbi was back to her old analytical self. She wasn't a SHIELD scientist for nothing after all.

"So Xan Man. Are we going to tell the others?" Dawn looked at the others across the room.

"Gotta. Otherwise it's gonna be a bitch to get them to trust us in the future."

"Director Harris are your people now under control?" Fury was looking at the watcher team and calculating what hos response should be if they caused trouble.

"Yeah sure evil twin. But we so gotta talk." Xander was serious and Fury could tell that the class clown mask was down. Therefore it had the potential to be deadly serious.

"How come I'm the evil twin? How are we twins in the first place we look nothing alike."

"Aw come on it's really simple. You have African roots. I've been to Africa. Your an ugly American with a big stick, while I'm the lovable American with the big heart that everyone loves. Just ask the girls" he pointed at the girls who were nodding their heads in agreement. "I have an eye patch, you have an eye patch..."

"You know, now that you've pointed out the similarities I can see it. Good twin..." Tony pointed at Xander, "Evil twin. It all makes sense..."

"Stark knock it off. He doesn't need that kind of juvenile encouragement." Fury looked at Tony and sighed. "Phil... help me out here?"

"Yes sir. Mister Stark, while you may know what it is to be a juvenile delinquent as of course your previous actions in the past have proven. Director Fury is not in fact evil. it just looks that way to other less enlightened souls. How's that boss? You think he bought it?"

Fury slapped his face with the palm of his hand. "Natasha. As the only other adult in the room, you are in charge until I get back." Fury left the room before he killed half of his allies.

"Now that you are openly in charge, and don't get me wrong you do have the right outfit for it, very becoming in fact. I just have one question to ask..." Natasha raised her brow giving him permission to bury himself. "...I wondering... where do you keep you whips and chains... not that I into that sort of thing you understand..."' Natasha and Phil's eyebrows came up at the same time. They've seen the videos. Who does Stark think he's kidding.

Natasha walked out of the room Phil behind her. Tony was curious and he followed. She just might show him her collection. No one in his experience who dressed like that, didn't have a set somewhere. although he didn't think was into that kind of thing too stuffy.

"Say. Anywhere I can take this armor off?"

Natasha gave a passing female agent the job of showing Stark what he can do with his armor. She kept walking without looking back grumbling curses in Russian, surprisingly, or maybe not, most were directed at Fury, only some were going Tony's way, and that mostly as collateral damage.

"I really, really like her." Faith told Xander as she followed after the Widow.

Soon the room was empty as they all followed Faith's example and went after the pissed off Window. Steve wasn't sure it was a good idea, but he went along to make sure the insane people in the room didn't hurt the poor service men that had no choice but to be here.

Natasha led them to another chamber where SHIELD agents were busy monitoring Loki in his cell. They saw Fury trying to reason with the space god. He was not having any luck.

While Natasha was studying and profiling the space nut the other players in the room had come to their own conclusions.

"He really grows on you doesn't he?" Bruce Banner smiles at them to indicate that he really isn't all that worried.

"He's gonna drag this out." Steve told them. "So, Thor, what's his play?"

"He has an army. Called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any known world. He needs to lead them against your people. They will win him the Earth in return I suspect for the Tesseract."

"An army... From outer space?" Steve could not believe he was having a serious conversation about something that had words in it like 'an army from outer space.'

"So. He's building another portal?" Bruce guessed, "That's what he needs Eric Selvig for?"

"Selvig?" asked Thor.

"He's an astrophysicist..." Bruce started to explain.

"He's a friend." clarified Thor.

"I don't get it." Faith looked all around. Natasha was too busy studying and analyzing the nut bar.

"You don't get what?" Steve asked.

"Why is this fruit cake still alive? I've heard enough. Portal, army from outer space, that's enough for me. Off with his head."

"It's not that simple. He has done to Selvig what he tried with Director Harris, and another of our men."

"Who?" Bobbi dreaded hearing the answer. So far there's been the Black Widow, but where was her ex. The archer known as Hawkeye.

To be continued...


	4. Chapter 4

**A Meeting of the minds.**

**Still Part IV**

* * *

"Come on. I know he's a serious nut-bar, but I don't think beheading is the way to go here." Bruce wasn't sure he should be here with these people if he was the voice of reason.

I wanna know why Loki let us take him? He's not leading an army from here." Steve looked to Thor for an answer.

"I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats. You could smell crazy on him." Faith totally agreed with Bruce's description.

"See! That's what I'm saying." She gave Bruce a huge smile. 'Hmm. Now if there was only someway you could combine that sense of humor with that body. I'd tame that hulking beast of destruction anytime.'

"Have a care of how you speak, Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and my brother."

"He killed eighty people in two days." Natasha reported the information as a matter of fact, without putting any emotion behind her statement.

Thor backed off a bit with his building anger, "He's adopted." He weakly explained.

"Let me guess you were the popular one where you come from, and he was the tag along. Asgard's a warrior culture and judging from the looks of him, he was more into the bookish side of thing. Got teased a lot I'm betting. Jocks are a cruel breed where ever they're from." Xander guessed.

"Thor's hold of his temper slipped. "Speak plainly, if you have an accusation to make do so openly? Do not couch your words with hidden meaning Knight of the Black Sword." Thor faced Xander Hammer in hand.

Xander met the challenge with the black sword. "I'm saying that 'Jocks' will be 'Jocks' no matter where they are, and while you personally may not be responsible for what he did, you and this Asgard of yours are responsible for how he turned out. I'm not defending him, or his actions, but you had a say in how he turned out, and how he turned out sure ain't pretty."

"Xander please stop this. What's gotten into you?" Xander gave Dawn a pointed look and she got the message. "Now's not the time. Thor please calm down. No one's accusing you of anything. Xander's still dealing with your brother trying to empty out his soul and taking over his body. Is soul sucking a bad thing where you're from?" Dawn calmed the two hot heads down before they came to blows.

"Iridium... What do they need the iridium for?" Bruce tried to steer the conversation in another direction in an effort to ease the building tension in the room. Once again he regreted coming on board. When he was the voice of reason is this raging storm of testosterone driven environment the world was in need of a serious dose of therapy.

The doors slid open and agent Coulson along with Stark came into the room. "It's a stabilizing agent." Tony turned to Phil and continued their conversation. Tony was trying to get Coulson to loosen the tie a bit. If there was a guy in more serious need of loosening up, he had yet to meet him. "It's just for the weekend. I'll fly you there, we'll have lunch."

Phil gave no indication that he would be taking up the invitation any time soon and left Stark to continue with his explanation.

"...means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD." He tapped Thor on the biceps as he went by Thor was not amused, "No hard feelings 'Pointbreak', you've got a mean swing." Oblivious to Thor's reaction, or he just didn't care, Tony continued with his explanation, "...also means that the portal can open as wide and stay open as long as Loki wants..." Tony looked around the room and saw that most of the gathered agents busy at their stations, except for that one guy playing the video game. His attention was diverted by a pair of screens place a few feet apart. He covered one eye while looking at one and the turned to the other screen. "...How does Fury even see these?" he pointed at the widely spaced display panels.

"He turns." Commander Hill was so not impressed by this playboy pretending to be an expert at everything.

"Sounds exhausting..." he studied the equipment curiously, "...the rest of the raw materials agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he needs is a power source..." while everyone was dazzled with his look at me act and not what I'm doing he continued with the distraction while he carefully placed a few toys of his own design to drain every piece of data SHIELD has been hiding from him. "...something with the right energy density... something to kick start if you will."

"When did you become an expert on thermo-nuclear astrophysics?" Hills asked snidely.

"Last night."

She still wasn't impressed she told herself despite her interest. While Tony and Bruce got into a scientific discussion trying to guess what Loki was doing, Xander retraced Stark steps. He spotted the extra add-ons without letting anyone notice what he was doing. While the brains were talking he saw Bobbi angling towards the Black Widow, he made his way towards them, but he let Bobbi have her say.

"When were you going to tell me about Clint?"

"Its need to know...and you don't have the proper clearance." Natasha wasn't trying to be nasty, but she wasn't about to divulge SHIELD secrets to anyone with Fury giving the okay first. "...here comes the Director now. I'm certain he'll answer all your questions." she turned to point to Fury to hide her smirk. Even she couldn't pull that one off with a straight face. She walked away. She didn't feel like dealing with Morse and her insecurity issues. She had a partner to rescue.

The meeting quickly broke apart after a few minutes, Stark with Banner, Faith caught up to the Widow and Xander took Dawn and Bobbi with him to pin Fury down and some background on what they were dealing with. That and to make a few calls.

'Damn. Why did this have to happen during Apocalypse season.'

Fury blew them off and went off to go spy on an orphanage or something somewhere and Xander placed his calls.

End Part IV

**Research and other Activities.**

**Finally Part V**

* * *

As the future avengers broke up Xander finally had the opportunity he'd been waiting for. He saw Stark drag Bruce off to some lab and Steve Rogers went down a different corridor.

He signaled Bobbi to follow Captain America discreetly. And sent Faith after Tony Stark, to keep an eye out, and if what Bruce said was correct, to keep the Hulk from making an appearance they could ill afford at this time.

All these commands were transmitted via a type of slayer silent battle code developed by Xander himself. He discovered it by accident while in Africa. He found that he could better communicate with the new slayers when he stopped trying to use the translation books Andrew loaded him up with every time he went to the Dark Continent.

This code was something that worked for only the core Scoobies and slayers. No other watcher was able to fully grasp it. A simpler version had to be developed for when watchers that weren't in Sunnydale at the time of the casting of Willow's empowerment spell, had to work with the slayers in the field on mainly combat heavy missions.

Xander had insisted that all team members, both watchers and slayers go through a version of the Special Forces training programs, to keep the new council up to date with the rapidly changing nature of modern combat they frequently had to go up against. When you gave a Slayer body armor and modern weapons, she became a truly frightening creature of precision destruction. On her own or in teams trained for these new missions.

The new code when employed by a Scooby, like Xander or Dawn along with a Slayer team, it can be nearly undetectable. The only one to notice that something was odd in the meeting was the Black Widow, but that was to be expected. A super soldier as old as the Widow didn't live as long as she did with development a truly frightening set of survival skills.

All it took for a message to be transmitted with this new code were body language facial expressions, which most new watcher could learn, and an under lying connection between the Slayers and the core Scooby members themselves.

Therefore during the meeting Xander was able to give his team their assignments, without a single word being said. That unfortunately had set off the Black Widows paranoia senses. She knew that 'THEY' were out to get her. She just didn't know what the hell they were saying and it was driving her to distraction.

"Hey Nat. Wanna come with..." Faith asked the Natasha to tag along with the guys.

Natasha had no choice but to do that, if she was going to keep an eye on their two of their most important assets.

As the ladies strolled along Xander couldn't hep but look at two of the most beautiful and deadly views known to mankind.

Dawn slugged him, and it hurt. Over the years she had stronger and faster, almost a mini slayer in her own right. But it was her other skills that earned her the right to be on Xander's team.

Xander sighed, "I deserved that, didn't I. Don't hold back, tell me?"

"Dawn slugged him again and walked away. Xander hung his head in shame as he followed along like a whipped puppy.

Phil Coulson snorted. He wasn't buying the act. He stayed as far as he could from them, to give the impression of privacy, but he tagged along to keep them out of trouble. He knew trouble and Xander Harris spelled trouble with a capital 'T'.

**SHIELD Gamma Lab**

* * *

Faith walked in, Followed by Natasha. The boys were in the middle of one of their tiresome discussions. "Hi boys. Miss me?" she gave them her best come hither smile.

Surprisingly enough Bruce was the first one to react. He went to Faith and took a deep breath. "Oh God."

"You like?" Faith teased.

"Oh yeah.""

"Hey. What about me?" Tony was feeling left out. He turned to the other drop dead gorgeous creature in the room and stopped in his tracks. He was absolutely certain from the look the Widow gave him that if he took another step he was a dead man.

To be continued.


	5. Chapter 5

**More Meetings**

**Finally Part V**

* * *

While Faith was playing with the boys, Bobbi was following Captain America throughout the ship. She stayed out of sight; instead relied on her slayer senses. In this case, her hearing and her sense of smell.

She had seen the plans for the Helicarrier, she knew where he was going before he did. She used short cuts and when she had to and the ventilation system to track him down.

'I wonder what he's searching for?' The last place she tracked him to was the maintenance tunnels. He copied the layout, and moved on. She looked at the maintenance tunnels, and frowned. She took a quick picture with her iPhone and continued on with her assignment.

'He's up to something, but what?' she quickly recognized that his new direction would take him back to the labs.

When she reached the Gamma Lab she caught the end of the dressing down Captain America was giving Stark. She caught Faith's attention and told her follow. In the hallway she asked, "What was that all about?"

"Nothing, just Stark being Stark. He was trying to get a rise out of Bruce, but the mean green machine wasn't biting. He was more interested in 'Moi'..." she waved at her body to indicate that she was all that and so much better than Bobbi. Bobbi ignored her, now that she knew what was at stake and with whatever it was still out there trying to get them at each other's throats she chose to ignore the attention getting slut, and be the professional one.

"...any who, that's when Captain White-bread comes in, and he saw Stark give Bruce a mild jolt to see what kind of rise he'd get, but like I said my boy wasn't biting, then Cap starts on Stark and says he ain't all that and Stark says that no, no he is all that and that it's Cap that needs to get all caught up to be in the same league as Stark, and that's when you walked in... Say I'm hungry...What about you? "

"I could eat. Come on, I know a guy on this tub that makes these really great turkey sandwiches."

**Fury's Office**

* * *

"Director Harris, can we at least count on the Council's support during this crisis?" Fury waited for Xander to put down the turkey on rye sandwich with extra mustard and jalapeño peppers.

"Sure, sure. I'm with you one hundred percent. Xander went back to eating his sandwich.

"That's good to hear. How many teams can we count on?" Fury was grounding his teeth. Could the boy child not take anything seriously. They were discussing an Alien Invasion of the planet Earth. The least he could do was put the damn sandwich down long enough to answer a few important questions.

Xander continued eating the really, really good sandwich, one of the best he'd ever had. He could hear Fury grinding his teeth, but he really didn't care. Whatever was driving the man's blood pressure certainly had nothing to do with him. He raised four fingers.

Fury smiled at that. Four combat teams was more support than he was hoping for. Considering this was Apocalypse season for the council. "Four teams should hopefully see us through this crisis, although eight would be a better number.

Xander shook his head in the negative. While finishing the sandwich with one hand, he held up four fingers. The first he pointed at Faith. The second at Bobbi, and the third was Dawn. He licked his fingers and said, "I'll be acting as your fourth."

"Are you pulling my chain?" Fury exploded.

Xander took a moment to understand the man's reaction. It took a moment but he finally got it. He laughed at Fury's explosion.

"Nicky, Nicky, Nicky. What are you thinking in that scheming head of yours. This is hunting season. You just can't expect my girls to just drop everything because of a measly little space invasion do you?"

"DON'T PLAY ME HARRIS! I AM NOT IN THE MOOD! You and the Council are turning your back on 'Mother Earth in her time of need, just so you can shoot a few ducks and rabbits..."

"The hell you smoking Nicky? You know as well as I do that at this time of year, all the nuts come out of the woodwork. This is the End of Days. Apocalypse to the left of me, Apocalypse to the right and freaking Apocalypse in front of me and here I am stuck in the middle with you and the bag of mixed nuts you are trying to gather behind everyone's back. Or didn't you think I'd notice?"

"Apocalypse, what did he mean by Apocalypse?" Tony looked at Phil for answers.

Phil whispered quietly trying not to disturb his boss while in the middle of delicate negotiations.

"Is the Council prepared to break the treaty of 1799?" Fury attacked from a different direction.

Xander however had been a watcher for close to a decade. He knew what Fury was trying to pull. The treaty of 1799 gave the old Council the ability to go to any country in the world without fear of interference from the locals. It also guaranteed Council support for the country that was facing an 'Unnatural Event'.

"Nick what do you take me for? Some snot nosed kid fresh out of the Academy. The Treaty gives you the right to ask assistance from the Chosen one and her Watcher. You, you lucky bastard got a twofer."

"How do you figure that I got a twofer?" Fury had managed to calm down a bit. His gambit didn't pay-off as well as he wanted. Damn Harris. The kid knew his stuff, he didn't think from his reputation that the White Knight would have bothered to learn the ins and outs of his profession.

"Well not only did you get the Chosen one al la Faith here, but you also got two, not one, but two kick ass Slayers. Faith and Bobbi are at or near the top of the order as to make no never mind. 'Sides it helps when your slayer has a touch of the super soldier in her..." Xander looked pointedly at the old man when he said it waiting for his reaction.

He didn't get one. Fury was that good at what he did.

Xander shrugged to indicate it was worth a shot. Fury gave him a nod to say it was and let's move on.

"Hold on here. What's this about a Apocalypses and chosen ones. And chosen by whom? I certainly wasn't asked. Who's on this committee and how do I apply?" Tony really wanted to know.

**Some Explanations and confrontations.**

Part VI

* * *

"Stark. Now is not the time." Fury snapped.

"Tough. Make the time or..."

"Or what? You'll take your toys and go home? This isn't a game Stark. The fate of the world hangs in the balance..."

"I see, so why are you playing the game with him? What? You didn't think I'd notice the two of you dancing around without, although now that I think about it, you don't seem to be too surprised about anything." the last thought was directed to Natasha. "I mean the first time I heard about it my reaction was wow! Space Aliens! The crap about the invasion came later, still dealing with that by the way." Tony's hands were all over the place trying to put his thoughts and ideas in place. That was one of the downsides of being a genius, your body can't keep up with your mind.

"Maybe you need to slow down a mite Stark..." Steve tried to head off the confrontation with Fury by starting one of his own with the billionaire genius.

"Whatever." Tony rudely ignored Steve and went after Xander. "Chosen by who and for what?" he got into Xander's face trying to intimidate him.

Faith couldn't take any more of Stark's posturing as he tried to intimidate Boytoy. She'd seen her watcher stand up to things that would make a nightmare piss itself. She fell into the nearest couch, which already had an occupant.

Bruce was about to complain, but the wriggling brunet changed his mind rapidly. He may not proclaim it to the world every five minutes like Stark does, but he was quite the genius himself. The bonus was the purr of pleasure from the big guy.

"Why's she laughing? Come on, I don't think I said anything funny? Phil help me out here..."

"Mr. Stark it's not what you said, sir. It's what you're trying to do?" Phil felt that was enough explanation. Stark was a smart boy. He told everyone he met at least a couple time in every conversation he had.

"Okay, now I'm more lost than ever. Ms. Romanov. Could you please explain Phil's explanation..."

You're trying to intimidate someone who thinks Director Fury is a big puppy. It's having the opposite effect, and those in the know are having a hard time containing themselves."

"You're not laughing."

"Oh but I am." She pointed to her heart, "On the inside I'm cracking up."

"Are you serious? I can never tell. Oh!" Tony had an epiphany. "Do you mean to say that all this talk of Apocalypses and so on isn't just exaggeration?"

"No. If anything he's playing it down to keep you from crapping in your iron pants." She faced Xander. "Director Harris, how many Apocalypses do you and your team deal with in any given year?"

"Are you sure you want to tell him that? He won't be able sleep at night for a long time after you brake his cherry."

Natasha looked at Stark and gave him a vicious smile. "Oh yeah, he deserves to know the truth."

"Damn girl, what did he do to piss you off this much?" Faith looked at Tony with pity in her eyes. All of a sudden Tony wasn't sure he wanted to know, but he was in too deep to back down.

"Two to three, unless we're part of the local team, then four to five." Dawn answered on Xander's behalf. We try to support as many of the local teams as we can. Cuts down on the casualties that way." The way she gave her answer, she might as well be ordering breakfast.

"No way your serious. With odds like this we should all be dead by now." Tony didn't believe her. To do so would mean they were all living on borrowed time. He refused to live in a world where everything he did had no meaning. He was Tony Stark dammit. He counted. "Why are we still alive? I mean if we are in danger of being destroyed two to four times a year why are we even still alive?"

"I hate to say it. The council and its operatives are that good." Nick confirmed.

"Council shmouncil. It's the freaking Scoobies that keep it together. " Faith corrected. After all this time she still didn't consider herself a Scooby, even though everyone else in the inner core did. "Ya wanna know what's really scary tin britches?"

Tony pinched his nose, "No! I really don't but I've feeling you're going to tell me anyway..." Tony waved for Faith to go ahead.

"We're winning. For the first time since the old ones were put to sleep, We. Are. Winning! If that isn't a kick in the pants, I don't know what is!"

"I find that hard to believe. Don't get me wrong, if you told me you had a deed on the blue side of the moon I'd say show me the dotted line, and that is to say while you... What are snickering about Phil, just because your back is turned it doesn't mean I can't see you." Tony quickly changed the subject before him. He felt naked without the suit for some reason. "JARVIS is agent Coulson snickering?"

"Yes sir! I believe he is."

"Who's Jarvis?" Dawn whispered to Xander.

"You got me there." he shrugged. He can't know everything; he's not Giles after all."

"STARK TELL ME YOU JUST DID NOT HACK OUR COMPUTER SYSTEMS WITH YOUR A.I."

"Would I be in trouble if I said yes?" Tony gave Fury his best innocent boy routine.

"HELL YES!"

"Then no, I didn't hack your secured up network, and why the hell haven't you installed the security systems I sold you last month?"

"To prevent something like that from happening." Fury fumed.

"Yeah good luck with that." Tony whispered.

Only those with superior senses could have heard, which in this room; it was everyone, but Banner, because Phil's ear piece doubled as a sound amplification device.

"I like him." Dawn confided to Xander. "He's a lot like Willow like that time she drank Buffy's triple chocolate mocha espresso."

"Don't remind me. That was the time she thought it was a good idea to give us matching tattoos. At least I can now use mine properly."

"I CANNOT BELIEVE I JUST HEARD THAT. WHO THE HELL WOULD GIVE THE RED WITCH ENOUGH CAFFEINE TO TURN HER INSANE?"

"I said I was sorry." whispered Dawn.

Fury blew up again. It was like riding herd over a bunch of cats. "What the hell were you thinking? Or were you thinking that pushing her over the edge again was a good idea. The last time she almost destroyed the world. Are you insane?"

"I, I said I was...sorry." Dawn sobbed.

Xander took out a big ass gun and put it on the table facing Fury, "Take that back." he said very reasonably. He didn't even raise his voice.

Fury felt a chill run down his back. "Miss Romanov..."

"Busssy..." she had her back to the room and was busy filling her nails. Her shoulders shook for some reason.

Fury knew there was no help there, he turned to Phil "Phil..." he asked.

"Sorry boss. If it was me personally I'd apologize, toot sweet."

"Phil?" Phil shrugged to indicate it was out of his hands. Sometimes the boss stepped way over the line, and had to be reminded that there were boundaries for a reason.

Thor watched the tense confrontation, but didn't interfere. He felt it wasn't his place to do so.

Captain America also watched the tense situation, but decided to see what Fury would do. That would tell him a little about these people he was supposed to work with. Besides if Fury had made Sharon cry like that he would have slugged him. You just did not insult a lady like that in front of her intended. It just wasn't done.

Bruce just watched. He hoped Fury got clipped at the very least. The jerk deserved it for making the angel who could tame his savage beast, cry like that. He wasn't lifting a single finger to help. Besides, if the man's agent were any indication; it wasn't a good idea to try, and the Black Widow so impressed him with her survival instincts so far.

Fury sighed and acquiesced, "Miss Summers I am deeply sorry if I have offended you. For that you have my heartfelt apology." Fury did not wipe his brow. It wasn't supposed to be that hot on the hellicarrier in the first place.

Xander quietly put away the gun.

"Um, not to be rude or anything..." Tony asked.

"Too late." replied Bruce.

Tony ignored the comments from the peanut gallery. "Who the hell is the red witch? That sounds familiar for some reason.

"She's Xander's friend. Her name's Willow." Dawn gave Xander a dazzling smile. It always made her weak in the knees when he went out of his way to defend her, or any of his girls that way. "She used to be a securit enthusiast, but she dropped out of the scene when things went from crazy to insane.

"Oh right. I remember her now. She's Elite, really good. And you know her? Funny you don't look like you're part of that scene." Tony told Xander.

"I'm not..."

Tony cut him off, "Why'd she quit?" he was curious, she was really good.

"She had to. When she became Gaia's avatar she never had the time to go back. She only does light stuff just to keep her hands in."

"Your childhood friend is my mother's Avatar Knight of the Black Sword?"

"Yeahhh. What about it?" Xander was on his guard again. Relationships between God like entities Always put him on edge. One never knew where you stood from century to century.

"I am the Earth Mother's Champion. It would be an honor to fight by your side in the defense of my mother." Thor declared.

"Glad to have you aboard big guy. Why didn't you tell us that you were humanity's Champion from the beginning?"

Xander snorted.

"What now?" Tony asked again. This guy was starting to get on his last nerve. He knew way too much about shit that he had no real information about.

"For a supposedly bright man, you can be pretty dim sometimes."

"Come again?" the nerve of the man.

"He said he was his Mother's Champion. He never specifically said that he was humanities Champion." Xander explained as if to a child. He knew he would pay for that later when it turned back to tech talk, but for now it was more important to keep the wild stallion under control. He agreed with Fury on that score. They so didn't need the cowboy to go off on his own doing God knows what.

Tony however wasn't ready to call it quits just yet. "So before my train of thought got derailed by the Titanic duo here, what makes you the 'Chosen Slayer' so dangerous?" Tony used air quotes to highlight the subject he needed explained.

Surprisingly it was Thor who answered. "They are Earth born Valkyrie."

As if that little tidbit explained everything. He sighed again in frustration. "Aside from the classical operatic meaning, what the hell are you talking about?"

"They are the choosers of the slain!" he explained slowly and carefully, as if to a particularly dim witted child.

"Again with the hyperbole. Speak plainly damn it!"

"What he means stud is that I choose who I'm gonna slay. Vampires, demons, insane Gods and Goddesses..."

"You have slain Gods?" Thor interrupted.

"Yeah, not proud of it; had to be done." Xander told him sadly. There was no choice. In both cases we weren't given a choice. Glorificus was going to destroy a huge segment of creation if we didn't stop her." Xander explained.

"And Jasmine would have turned our world into her private playground." Faith explained the rest.

"Glorificus is a truly insane and vain elder Bitch of the first order. Your victory would have been costly."

"It cost my sister her life. She went to heaven after she sacrificed herself for me." Dawn remembered that time of her life with bitterness. She lost both her mother and sister that year.

"I grieve for your loss."

Dawn saw that Thor meant it, "Thank you, but please don't be sad. She got got better."

"How do you get better from death?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Some Vague and not so Vague Threats...**

****

Part VI continued.  


* * *

"It's a Scooby thing. Don't fight it, for now just go with the flow."

Tony studied Faith, and not her body. Okay, not just her body. Honestly she was just that hot; like an approachable Black Widow. He so hoped she didn't bite, but she probably did. "You keep mentioning the Scoobies; as in the cartoon about the dog?"

"Not just the dog." Dawn rolled her eyes. "The Scooby Doo gang was more about solving supernatural mysteries as a team. That's what we are, a close knit team that care so much about each other we became an extended family by choice, not just blood. There are good and bad times. When someone does something stupid we call them out. If they get it right, we're so there with the kudos."

"At the moment they are the most feared force on the planet." Natasha threw that bit out there to see how Stark's ego would handle that. She knew he thought 'He' was the most powerful force for 'Good' on the planet. Silly little man.

"Just how scary can they be if they pattern their team after that of a dog show? An animated dog show."

Xander just shrugged. He knew that Tony was trying to bait them to get them to reveal their secrets. No thanks Starkey I stopped having to prove myself during senior year.

Faith saw Xander wasn't going for the bait. She snickered.

"What now?" Tony didn't like that snicker, every time she did that they burst one of his bubbles. He waived for her to go ahead, "Okay. I know I'm going to regret this, but impress me?"

"It's not about impressing you, 'He who wishes he could be my BoyToy.' it's about education."

"Education? Did you know she knew that word?" Bobbi whispered to Dawn. She knew that Faith heard her clearly, 'cause hello, slayers and the chamber wasn't that big.

"Not now. I think she's got something to say, and she may do something..."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure Bobbi, but she's got the look."

"What look?"

"You know. THAT look."

As if that explained everything. She was still in the dark. Sometimes Dawn forgets that Bobbi wasn't a core Scooby, and she wasn't privy to all their secrets. She pretended she knew and left it at that.

"When you're a chosen one. You get a little something extra with the package."she glanced at Bobbi and sneered, she turned back to Tony, "We have something inside us called the Slayer essence, and when we have to, we can all channel the bad ass pre-historic bitch..."

"Did you even know she knew words like that?" Bobbi pretended to be shocked. She saw the look Faith gave her, and she so wasn't letting it ride.

Faith ignored Bobbi, "...I, unlike most girls have the full Slayer Package. I am the last pure 'Chosen Slayer' and when I channel the full glory of the bitch I can make ten foot tall demons tremble." Faith started to slowly do just that. The full power of the alpha bitch started to slowly come out. Everyone in the room felt it. The presence of the hunter. The ultimate predator. The predator, who's favorite prey was other predators. She directed her gift at Tony Stark as she stalked slowly towards the sweating billionaire. She started to circle slowly around him like a big hunting cat.

Thor admired her openly. She was a Goddess on the hunt. He'd do her right then and there of she permitted.

Bruce couldn't take any more; the big guy was so turned on that he came in his pants right then and there. He noticed that Harris gave him that snide smirk of his that said 'I know what you did.', screw him. Bruce didn't care. The ball of inner rage he carried inside all the time made him immune. Although to be honest, Xander didn't make a big deal out of it, and he had to admit it to himself, the little punk had caught him fair and square, and he didn't spill his secret.

Fury let Faith turn up the heat on the jack ass. He hoped the girl would just take out a leash already and be done with it. Her he could deal with. If only it wasn't for Harris. He would have made a play for her a long time ago. She would have made a magnificent SHIELD agent.

Phil openly smirked.

Natasha was bored. 'Whatever.' she wasn't the one playing. Funny, but her boredom meter was rapidly rising.

Tony didn't know if he should drop down on his knees and beg forgiveness and maybe propose, 'I can probably convince Pepper to go for a threesome...', or run out of the room screaming like a little girl. 'When the hell did I become the bitch?' he wondered.

"Director Harris. Is it possible to control your people?" They were on the dime damn it. They didn't have time for the fun and games no matter how personally satisfying they might be.

"Not really. I tried to be controlling once..."

Fury waived for him to continue. 'God these children are such drama queens.'

"She laughed and said I looked cute doing it. It was never brought up again."

"Then how the hell do you survive in combat?" Fury asked.

"I point at the bad guys, stand back and let her loose. The best thing I found out was not to get in her way when she's having fun. She likes to play rough from time to time."

'I didn't need to know that.'

"You're having second thoughts about bringing us on your shiny flying ship."

"It's really not that big of a problem Harris. I could always throw you off."

"Aren't we like really, really high?"

"Your point?"

"Just checking." Xander gave Fury his best I am a good little boy smile, he ruined it when he winked.

Fury snorted, 'Yeah right.' He saw the footage of Harris jumping without a chute. At least it would get rid of the developing headache.

"Faith..."

"Yeah BoyToy?"

"I want another turkey sandwich..." Xander could still taste the peppers. It was really that good.

"So..."

"So, if you don't let the chew toy get away, we'll never finish the meeting and we'll be stuck here with my evil twin giving me the stink eye cause he says I can't control my people and I so don't wanna go there so could you maybe please do something about that so I can finish this oh, oh, so informative meeting and get a sandwich before I starve to death." Xander babble at half Willow speed, so most the people in the room were able to keep up, except for Bruce, he really didn't care, although he might try the turkey on rye sandwich, it might be good.

"Is it really that good?" Bruce asked, the already salivating Xander.

"Oh yeah. I can just taste it..."

"You should. You just finished one a few minutes ago." Dawn again did with the rolling of the eyes.

"Faith..." Xander begged.

"Alright already. Sheesh. I'm done anyway. You threw me off my stride. You are so going to pay for that." she threatened.

"Aw come on. He's so not worth it, and I'm really hungry..." he told her as they left in the pursuit of the perfect turkey sandwich. Dawn joined them, and Bobbi stayed behind with her assigned target.

"He's really quite good at what he does." Natasha observed.

"That he is. He'd give you a run for your money boss." Phil agreed with the Widow. The kid knew how to manipulate his people without letting them lose face in front of strangers.

"That's what scares me Phil. Not the walking engines of destruction. Those you can see and plan for. That little punk is just plain scary." Fury agreed.

"What just happened here? Were you people even in the same room with us?" Tony complained.

"Yes we were. Weren't you paying attention to the soft and hard glove treatment?" Widow looked at Tony as if to say 'comon use that much advertised big brain of yours and get caught up with the rest of us.

Steve had enough. Very informative, but he could already predict the headaches looming on the horizon. He left the room as well.

Bobbi gave him a few seconds head start and went after him. After all, it's more sporting to give the mouse a head start.

Fury snorted.

"That's just sad Phil when a good agent starts to slip like that..."

"Oh you mean Bobbi?"

"She wasn't even pretending. She just went after him..."

"And you're falling for that?" Natasha looked at the boss with suspicion.

"You have something to say Widow?"

"They are playing and they don't feel the need to hide, and they're letting you know openly that they aren't trying to hide. So my question is, what the 'Fuck' are they trying to hide?"

"I'm out of here. You people are nuts. Bruce can I interest you in a sandwich. I hear the turkey on rye is quite good?"

"Sure." Bruce shook his head and looked to the skies, too bad there was all this armor in the way. He really liked to look at the sky once in a while.

Fury looked at Phil.

"On it boss as Phil followed the two walking brains. He joined them, at this point there was no use pretending everyone knew that Fury was in his obsessive mood. The kid really managed to pull his chains but good. This was gonna be fun. He just knew it.

**Catching up...**

****

Part VII  
SHIELD Helicarrier  
On-board Warehouse

* * *

Steve broke into Secure Storage 10C Warehouse. This was an unlisted asset. He snuck around the hidden warehouse looking for evidence that Fury was hiding something very important. Bobbi looked on from her hiding spot.

She saw crates stored securely, each in their own berth.

Steve jumped to the upper levels. She moved into a better position as soon as he was out of sight.

Cap was opening a crate. She couldn't see what's inside, but she didn't have to. He pulled out a futuristic looking rifle. She assumed that the crate would contain more of the same.

She'd confirm that after Cap left. Steve grabbed a couple rifles and left quickly.

Bobbi checked the same crate and a few others to make sure.

Among the other crates she found a telescoping battle staff. She studied the quality. She noticed that she could disassemble the staff for ease of maintenance. The crate was full, but a matched pair was in its own case. 'This... This is adamantium.' She took them both. She figured Faith might want the other staff. If she knew Xander, and she did, there was a very good chance she could get him into blackmailing Fury into releasing the staves into their custody.

Her old boss was trying really hard to get them to join on his latest wild ass venture, no way was she doing this without some perks, and these babies were as sweet as it got. She could already tell that they had an energy blaster on one end. When she had the time she needed to see how many charges a staff held, and maybe get Xander to improvise some sort of a stake attachment on the other end.

She looked at the rest of the crates and was about to check the rest of them out. There was bound to be some other goodies in there, but then her good sense took over and squashed the Slayer Weapon acquisition instincts. Xander needed to know what SHIELD was up to. Not that she thought it was wrong; she didn't. However there were enough weapons to start a small war, she didn't know with who, but it was starting to look like these new space aliens Thor was talking about. She just wondered what the weapons were doing in storage, and why they haven't been issued to the combat teams just yet. Another Xander decision. She loved being a Slayer. All the crap was Xander's to deal with. She just got pointed in the right direction and made sure what she was pointed at stopped moving when she was done.

She hurried to the cafeteria. Dawn just confirmed their location. Silent magic communicators a la Willow and her group, gotta love them.

**  
SHIELD Helicarrier  
Cafeteria **

* * *

Xander was on his second sandwich and he was still feeling peckish... He dropped the sandwich and sniffed. He couldn't detect anything. "Dawn, could you maybe..." he twigged his fingers to indicate that Dawn should do her witchy thing.

She rolled her eyes she told him that it was just as sandwich. He glared. She sighed. But she did as the paranoid jerk ordered.

She gave him a pointed stare to indicate that the sandwich was clean.

Xander was of two minds. On one hand it was a clean sandwich and it was beyond deli goodness, and he was still hungry. He suspected that his body was still changing and the energy needed some mass to work with. Muscles were still forming and he was getting denser. His center of gravity had changed. Willow was going to have a field day when she got her hands on him. He finished the sandwich and was thinking of getting another.

Dawn looked at him with disgust. 'Pig,' she thought. 'He should just lay a trough down and go to town. '

"Still pigging out I see. So not much changed than the last time." Riley Finn sat next to Dawn and smiled when she squealed with joy, and proceeded to crush him to death (if he hadn't been a somewhat successful participant of the SHIELD super soldier program.)

Sam sat next to Xander and apologized for her husband's behavior.

Xander waved her off. They were part of the extended family and were allowed to make with the insults.

Sam gave Xander a hug and a peck on the cheek. She pulled back and looked closer at Xander, "What's wrong with your eye? Why is it glowing like that?"

"Saw that too did you? I thought it was more of Willow's witchy-pu at work. What's the story?"

"You know that guy they have in max security?" Xander asked. When the pair nodded that they did, he continued, "He tried to take possession and ran into the Willow brick wall. This guy has a heavy hand so he tries to overpower the mind and spirit, instead of just taking over control. You remember Dracula, he was a master feather-light touch. Our space Overlord wanna-be would have the delicate touch of an M1 Abrams trying to drive on a road made of egg shells. Anyway all that energy had to go somewhere, and so far the pros outweigh the cons."

Riley sighed, "Only you, Xander; voted most likely to be possessed in high school, weren't you?"

Xander threw the sandwich wrapper at Riley while the girls giggled. "So tell me about Fury's Super Soldier program. I thought there was an international ban on this sort of thing?"

"It's more like the ban on steroids. Like the one you went through while you were with the swim team."

"Ugh. Don't remind me. That was the Russian version of creating a Super Seal type soldier."

"No Shit..." began Riley, but a cough from Sam made pause. "Oh...heh, sorry honey. It slipped out."

She held out her hand, "Uh hmm."

"Oh right, sorry... Here you go." He have her a buck. At Xander and Dawn's looks he explained, "Swear jar."

"You won't believe the mouth on him. It's all the Jarheads he hangs around with after they're done on the mats. I will not have my children swear like sailors while they're still in elementary school," Sam told the two Scoobs.

At the mention of the Finns children, Dawn perked up. She was considered the cool aunt, and Buffy the stuffy but rich aunt. She was tolerated because she gave expensive gifts, but as soon as those were handed out it was time to be gone and hang out with Dawn.

Sam and Dawn got down to the important business of getting caught up. Xander and Riley were ignored and left to their own devices.

"So make with the spilly already," Xander waved to the super soldier in training to spill his guts. While they were under Dawn's privacy wards, Riley explained about the new arms race, except with super soldiers.

"Let me get this straight...you have three squads of twelve getting a variation of the super soldier formula based on the one that created Steve Rogers and another three squads work with this Pym character to create 'Giant Men' and you're serious about the last and not pulling my chain..."

"Yeah unfortunately, it's about as serious as it gets. The death rate on that project is two to the times the one on project rebirth. The only success so far is his wife."

"She can grow into a giant, just like Dawny?" Xander didn't believe how far Fury was willing to go.

"Uh...No. She can shrink. Instead of going up they went down. Pym says it's just a matter of reversing the polarity to go the other way. It works, but after a while the subject explodes."

"Ewww. Riley, that's obscene. Is there no one seriously looking at these people?"

Riley confirmed that there was, but the pressure to produce a force composed of super soldiers was intense. "Fury's bosses are really applying the pressure. Something happened in New Mexico, a whole town got destroyed. It wasn't demons, we checked. But the Council, that's Fury's superiors want a response team in place the next time there's a repeat."

"What about your people?"

Riley sighed, "I won't lie to you. For a while it was really bad. That was before they recruited me and Sam and the Sunnydale survivors. There's about fourteen of us counting me and Sam. Things began to get better when Steve Rogers was found." Riley hesitated but he continued, "Ever since then the deaths have stopped and we started getting real results. Most of the candidates are at fifty percent, but my people are closer to seventy to seventy-five percent. Sam and I top our teams at eighty-five to ninety percent of Rogers last performance evaluation. The leader is a Marine by the name of John Walker. He's close to perfect at ninety-eight. He was an ass at the beginning until my bunch kicked his team around, after the arrogance was kicked out and got knocked down face first into the mud... Let's just say it was a work in progress until he came around."

"Any idea how they turned it around? And why the hell did you and Sam join this crazy farm?"

"Xander you didn't see that town. This wasn't a spur of the moment decision. These people know what they're doing. They took every candidate to what was left of that town. No one wants a repeat. We're at war. We just don't know with who. With the weapons to go toe-to-toe; our only other option at this point is to make the soldiers, the weapons. And I think Captain Rogers donated some blood and that pointed them in the right direction."

"Always about the blood." Xander shook his head in sadness. His family had suffered a great deal, because it was always about the blood. He also made a mental note to get this town checked out. If it was as bad as Riley was making things out to be then the shit coming down the pike will reach the slayers, better be prepared than get caught napping.

"Here comes Graham, and he has Walker with him." Riley saw a couple of soldier that just came in to the cafeteria. It was Graham and Walker. He saw Xander raise his glass to take a drink. He pointed in the soldiers direction.

Xander saw the two soldiers and spit out his drink. He barely missed Dawn and Sam.

The girls gave him the stink eye until Sam saw who caught sight of their friend and Walker. She understood immediately, her husband was evening the score in their ongoing prank war.

"Is, is that Graham? What the fuck?"

"Yeah, Xand. I wouldn't mention it if I was you. He's a little self-conscious about his condition."

"GRAHAM MILLER, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOU?" Too bad Riley didn't tell Dawn as well.

Dawn ran to the much changed man she used to know.

"Hi Dawny." Graham gave her a careful hug. After the last growth spurt he went through he had to be careful around people; while Dawn was a lot tougher than most of the guys on his squad, he still had to be careful around them as well.

"Is that Pym's fault?" Xander's eyes narrowed as he started to make plans to have a talk with the SHIELD scientist.

"Uh no, he's not part of Pym's group. He was one of those that were having problems, that is until Rogers was discovered. He gotten a lot better since then."

"How much worse could it have been? Christ, he's freaking huge. How big is he?"

"He's almost eight feet tall. Thank god at least the growth spurts have stopped. He's still coming to grips but he could still pass for human. He's at the very edge. It was a close thing."

"Excuse me; I have to go see a man about playing God."

"Xander don't. The man is under a lot of pressure and things have improved." Riley saw the murderous look that came over his long time friend.

"Not from where I'm standing they haven't."

Dawn saw Xander leave in a rush with Riley right after him. She ran after the pair with Sam right behind. "What's going on?"

"Can't talk, got a murder to stop."

"Who's being murdered?"

"If I don't catch him... Director Fury!"


	7. Chapter 7

**A little disagreement before combat**

**Part VIII  
SHIELD Helicarrier  
Gamma Lab**

* * *

As Xander and company made their way to the lab a confrontation was well under way between Fury and the rest of the Avenger candidates, those willing or otherwise.

Bobbi was in the doorway watching her old boss turn a negative into a positive. She knew he saw the staff she clipped to a belt holster used to hold stakes. Since the slot was empty she put her staff in it. She kept the other one in its case for when Faith decided to show up. Faith had gotten bored watching the Si Fi twins and their mutual admiration love fest for their big brains. She went in search of Natasha before the boys put her to sleep.

She and Steve got here about the same time. She knew a few shortcuts still. As soon as he saw her; he gave her a look that said 'are you done following me yet?'

She had smirked instead and made as if to check him. As expected the big blue Boy Scout turned mainly red. She let him get off lightly. He was eye candy, sure, but her man was Clint. That didn't mean she was beyond teasing the big softy.

Banner was at a display monitor showing the nefarious evidence of the Spy-Master's misdeeds, when Xander and party burst through like the train wreck she bought tickets to watch. Dawn gave her a running update while she waited for the show to start.

"Fury what the fuck are you doing experimenting on soldiers? And I don't care if they asked nicely to be experimented on or not. Soldiers are like that. They'll do stupid shit for reasons like patriotism or career advancement and crap..." he saw Steve's jaw tighten up and heard his teeth grind, "...not that patriotism is stupid, but taking advantage of it is criminal..." he saw Steve agree and he moved on. He could do without a throw down with Cap, no need to piss off more than one super soldier at a time. He saw the monitors and the content on the display, "Nice missile by the way, but if you had shit like that way are you playing around with people's lives. Ya know I should just slug you on general principle..." Xander did just that. The hit came so fast he caught everyone with their pants down.

Stark chortled. Bruce felt his pulse quicken, but with Dawn in the room nothing came of it. Phil wanted to interfere but the boss had it coming. He was a member of the first group to go through the shit before he wiser up and since Cap came back the stabilizing shots he was taking were well on their way to fixing up all the crap that went wrong. He might even be field ready to get back into the game soon; If they survive the 'Loki Love Fest' of 2012.

"That's it? Nice missiles? That's all you have to say?" Tony got an ice pack and gave it to Fury.

"Yeah that's it, they look like the can do damage." He shrugged. "Anyway, where were we?"

Steve blocked him.

Xander rolled his eye, "I'm almost done with the violence...hey Cap have you met my friends, they're blood relations of yours let me introduce you..." he ushered the rest of the group in. "These are the Finns, husband and wife, not brother and sister if you're wondering and thinking of making a play for the lovely Sam..." Steve spluttered trying to deny the false accusation, but Xander steamrolled over his objections. He wanted to keep Cap of balance while he dealt with Fury. "Did you know your blood flows through their veins? You could say they're like the brother and sister you always wanted, but wished weren't in Sam's case as I see that you wouldn't mind making the play. I don't disagree with you there buddy, but her husband would shoot first and forgive later. He's that kind a guy. Straight shooter you might say..." Again Steve made with the denials, and again the Xander bulldozed rolled over.

Tony couldn't help but admire the technique and took notes and vowed to be better prepared for when he became Xander's target. He knew it would be inevitable, but fun. He didn't have too many opponents willing to challenge him like that. He also needed to remember that just because someone wasn't tech savvy, it didn't mean that they couldn't hold their own. Sure the kid could be an idiot savant, but what he'd seen so far disproved that theory.

"Doctor Banner you need to remove yourself from this room," Natasha ordered Bruce.

"Why? Afraid he has something to say? You going to shut him up about the weapons we discovered. Am I next?" Tony asked angrily.

"Stay out of this Stark. This doesn't concern you." Steve said just as angrily.

Xander saw, and felt the mood of everyone in the room turn ugly really fast. He felt the wrongness first and the saw the cause. It was the spear; Loki's spear. It was almost humming, the worse it got the happier it hummed. Xander jumped across the room and over all obstacles. He grabbed the spear and threw it to Faith, "Get this filthy thing out of here. It might as well be the offspring of a hellmouth and a deranged smith on speed."

Faith caught the spear and instantly felt the wrongness she took off like a bullet. The moment the spear left the room Dawn's inner calm began to do its thing and cool things down again, and it was at that precise moment when Hawkeye's explosive arrow detonated.

Clint led his strike team against his SHIELD brethren. Inside he was fighting Loki's influence with everything he had, but it did no good.

He shot a security agent at his post and cleared the way for the others.

Stark with the help of Rogers went after the damaged engine, Bobbi decided to tag along. The Widow was trapped with Bruce and Dawn. Bruce was about to 'Hulk Out' when Dawn put a hand on his head. He stopped transforming while Dawn spoke gently as if trying to calm down a spooked horse. Fury ordered the super soldiers to follow him. He wanted a target to throw them at, and he wanted it quick. He headed to the bridge. For an assault to be successful, it needed to take out the bridge and crew. That was the next logical step. The crew would be too busy trying to re-establish control. They'd be ripe for the plucking.

Xander on the other hand recognized right away that there's only one target that required this kind of effort. LOKI: his followers would willingly lay down their lives without a second thought to free their leader and god. Didn't matter that on the inside they would be fighting against this action, they were self-guided smart missiles, and they were locked on target.

Thor came to the same conclusion for widely different reasons, but it was the same conclusion. They raced to the holding cell with Phil in the lead.

Faith just kept running with the spear. If Boytoy said that this thing had to be kept out of the bad guys' hands, then she would keep it out of the bad guys' hands.

Natasha saw Banner begin his transformation and almost crapped her panties. She knew the Hulk would go after her. He was a primitive savage that would recognize the true threat she represented. There would be no reprieve for her gender. When she saw Summers lay her hands on Banner and the transformation began to reverse itself, she said a quick prayer and got herself free. Summers could keep the walking weapon of mass destruction from exploding and blowing them out of the sky. She had another worry to take care of. This assault looked familiar, she should know after all she been on many like it. Clint Barton was a master planner and knew what it took to take on any target; even a heavily defended target like the SHIELD Helicarrier.

Bobbi and Cap encountered opposition as soon as they reached the damaged engine. While Iron Man did his best to figure out a way to fix the damage, Bobbi and Steve went after the assault team lying in wait. Steve would charge taking any attack on the shield while Bobbi followed behind. This was the perfect situation to try out the blaster in the staff. Steve charged another position and she followed in her wake. A target in full combat gear came out of cover trying to bring Cap down, but Steve was a past master at this style of combat. He had the bad guys' full attention. She lined up her shot and fired. The blast was on target and blew through the armor and took the target down. 'A bit of a bang, but well worth it in open combat.' She made a note not to try it out on missions that required silence and stealth, but when the shit came down...she was so counting on this baby to even things up.

Steve cleared the choke point and she sprinted after him. She had multiple targets at various levels and went up top and left he guys on the ground level to Steve. While in the air she pressed a stud and the staff extended to its full length. She used the extra reach to poke her target in the head, and hard. His head was armored, but the blunt force trauma took him out. She lined up her targets and went after them at full speed as only a Slayer, or an enhanced super soldier slayer like herself could. When she became the slayer it was the best day of her life. It meant she had a second lease on life. The damage that the serum had done was slowly killing her. Becoming the slayer not only fixed her life, but fixed what was wrong with the serum. She felt she could out do Captain America, and now that she had the indestructible staff she may have the shield and sword. After taking target number three down, she left herself wide open. She twirled the staff like a propeller and deflected the spray of high velocity bullets that sought to end her life. A silver disk flew through the air and took out black hat and bounced back to Steve's waiting hand. She took a moment to admire his acrobatic fighting style as he grabbed the shield while he was mid-air and rolled and exploded out into another throw against another target at the other end of the huge engine.

While Stark was busy repairing the damage, his sensor suite recorded the display of the two obviously enhanced super humans. He knew Captain America would be impressive. What he didn't count on was just how powerful and impressive a slayer would be. Bobbi had not only kept up with Steve, in some ways she out shone him in some major feats of speed and agility. She also had to be pretty darn strong to jump around from one level to the next without slowing down.

**  
SHIELD Helicarrier  
Secure Containment Facility**

* * *

Thor arrived ahead of Xander. He saw one of the black clad warriors free Loki from his cell. He charged full speed to intercept his brother.

Loki teleported out of the way and pressed the button Fury used to lock him in. "Are you ever going to stop falling for that..." he asked his brother mildly reproaching him for his impulsive actions. He had a speech prepared but Xander blindsided him with a right cross. It knocked him back from the counsel.

"That hurt..." he rubbed his jaw and got back up. "Still you hit like a girl... An Asgardian girl, but still a girl."

"You saw who I hang around with. How is that an insult on runt of the litter?"

Loki gave him an evil smile as he got back up. "I meant a ten year old girl..." he rubbed his pointy chin again, "...maybe eleven, but that's as high as I'll go." he teleported behind Xander only to have Xander's sword at his throat. "Go for it. I double dare you."

It was a stand-off with Loki at Xander's back with the knife and Xander with the black sword to Loki's throat. If either flinched it would be disastrous for either of them. Loki recognized the type of weapon in the Demi-mortal's grip and Xander knew that Loki could make it stick.

Thor looked on in frustration. He didn't wish either fool to hurt the other. He decided to break out of the glass prison.

Phil made his presence known to the super powered crowd. The Special Forces mind slave had seen the agent and froze in place as the giant hand cannon pointed in his direction kept him from moving.

He saw Thor swing the Hammer, and was a little late in his warning, "No! Don't swing at the wall!" but Thor was already committed.

They all saw the wall crack, but hold up to the Demi-God's hit.

"Shit!" Phil really meant it. They needed the Storm god on their side. The boss was going to be pissed.

Loki took advantage of the distraction and teleported behind the SHIELD agent. No way was he going to after the seer knight while he held a God Killing weapon in his hand and the ability to predict where he would pop up with his teleport. As the agent was the threat he stabbed him with his knife and teleported out of the room through the only exit he could use, the hole where his previous cell used to be. Once outside, he reoriented and made his way to the flight deck where his slaves waited for his return. He lacked the spear, but was confident he would eventually get it back. His mind slave had jumped out the same hole and opened up the Para-glider as he made his way down to terra firma.

"Phil! No! What the hell were you thinking? You know the rules. Always shoot the bad guy first. Talk later. Hold on. Let me look at it." Xander examined the agent and from the looks of it, bad would have been good. He was worse than bad. This was almost guaranteed to be fatal.

Fury made it into the room and went straight to the fallen agent. "What happened? Where's Loki?"

"Gone..."

Fury ignored Xander and concentrated in his wounded man. "Hold on, soldier. We'll get you through this," he ordered Phil. He knew the agent was gone, but he had to say something.

"Move..." Xander shoved Fury out of the way. He took a deep breath and said, "Catch me when I fall down."

He held his hands over Phil and concentrated. He muttered the triage spell he insisted Willow teach all watchers. He poured his life force into the spell and shoved it into the prone agent. As predicted when the spell was done he fell down, unconscious. Fury looked at the men on the floor; both were out of it. Phil was still breathing, but he didn't know about Harris.

The Black Widow came in and saw damage and the men on the floor. "Barton's been captured and Stark has repaired engine number three."

She looked up from the two men, the question in her eyes asked, 'Are they still alive?'


	8. Chapter 8

**Consequences.**

****

Part IX  
SHIELD Helicarrier  
Medical Wing

* * *

Xander bolted out of bed with a start. He looked around and saw himself in the bed across from his own. His body did the same. He noticed someone had removed the eye patch. A green eye was in that socket, with a silver lining; the other eye was still brown, but it too had a silver lining outline as well.

The moment the two men locked gazes; their world turned Topsy-turvy. Xander's awareness snapped back to his original body while Phil looked across the room.

"Thanks for the save bro, but let's not do that any time soon."

"Ditto. You're a good man Phil Coulson, but I gotta be me!" Xander smiled to show he was joking.

"Could you be a little less you? It would be an improvement and a lot less annoying." Phil smiled as well to show he was kidding.

"Dear God in Heaven, No. There are two of them." Nick Fury was waiting for the two men to wake up; he wasn't alone, Dawn and Faith were waiting with him. They launched themselves at Xander, like Xander seeking missiles.

"What'd I miss?" he looked around and noticed what had to be a hospital of some sort, and it was nearly full.

"Not much. Bobbi's ex attacked. Blew shit up and freed up the loon and somehow stabbed Phil and you did the' FUCKING TRIAGE SPELL THAT YOU WERE BANNED FROM EVER DOING AGAIN ON PAIN OF WILLOW!" Dawn's screaming woke everyone up and got a response team rushing in to deal with an emergency.

Fury waved them off. He wanted to know what he kid did with this spell of his. It saved his agent's life. That was obvious, but what else did it do? "Why is he banned from performing that spell Miss Summers?" his voice was low, but demanding.

Dawn ignored his tone of voice, "'Cause this jerk doesn't know how to fucking shut down any spell he does. He puts everything into any spell he casts. He drains himself completely. Can you imagine if he did that during combat? And with the triage spell, it's a last ditch effort for a watcher to heal his slayer long enough, until real help arrives. Sure he can read from a book or cast a simple ward, but the moment he casts a spell, he'll be as helpless as a newborn kitten."

"Why do you object to this triage spell so much? I would think it's a good thing to keep your people alive until they get help?"

"It's really not. The caster gives the receivers a portion of his life force to keep him or her alive, and stable. But they wind up sharing souls. This goof already has too many things sharing his soul. Nothing against you Phil you look like a nice enough person; got that whole dry humor thing going for you and all, plus the obvious class that this jerk lacks. Hope it's a good thing, but you're getting his baggage in return and let me tell you he's been dragging his baggage through the dirt a lot."

"I know. And yet I don't mind. Life is good and I would like to keep on seeing what else it has in store..." he turned to Fury, "Hey boss I'm feeling pretty good here. Any chance I can get out of here soonish?"

"Soonish? Phil is that even a word?"

"Yeah he'll be doing that a lot until he re-trains the Xanderism out of his head." Dawn explained.

"I see a few familiar faces." Xander saw the Finns, Graham, and their friend John Walker. Others he didn't recognize, but it looked like they put up a good fight before they were taken down. "What the hell, Riley. I thought you and the rest were the new Caps..." Xander again wiggled his fingers; first to make sure he could still wiggle his fingers and second to tell Riley to make with the splainy.

"We followed the boss to the bridge and got ambushed by agent Barton. That guy is amazing: one arrow. He got both me and Sam both with one stinking arrow. Should be out of here soonish too."

"Colonel Finn. I thought better of you."

"Sorry, sir. I'm afraid he brings out the Sunnydale speak in me. We were conditioned to blend in after all."

"He's just one man, and _not_ a city."

"In many ways, sir, he is. Xander personifies Sunnydale. Has the heart and soul of the city you might say."

Fury was about to argue, until he thought about it. With Harris and the Sunnydale crew nothing could be taken for granted. If a decorated expert in the field, who lived the life and was considered part of Harris' extended family, said it, he couldn't just rule it out of hand. He grunted to let his displeasure be known, but he didn't pursue the matter. He had real issues to deal with after all. "Phil, report to Dr. Samson. He'll have the final say on whether you're fit for duty or not..." Before he could continue Bobbi Morse came hesitantly into the ward. She had her old super soldier uniform on. Natasha must have given it to her. He wondered why?

"What's up, Bobbi? You look down..."

Harris would notice the moods of his people. The man's empathy was uncanny. Too insightful into things he had no business pushing his nose into.

"Xander could you please talk to Clint? He's having a hard time with the possession."

'Oh, lord. Give me strength. How the hell am I going to fight a war when the people I depend on are compromised? Hopefully Samson would clear Coulson, and while he's at it might as well get him to give Finn and his people the once over. Damn it. I did not need my people killing each other.'

"I'm on my way." Xander tried to get out of bed, but Faith held him down with one hand. For some reason he didn't see the spear she held in the other.

"Where do you think you're going, adventure boy?"

"Faith I'm fine. My energy reserves are back up to full again." To prove it he looked her straight in the eyes and flared the power. The flash light effect was back on.

Faith wasn't convinced, but she was having a hard time holding him down with one hand. "'Kay, but if you pull something important... I'll make you pay. Got it?"

"Got it." He escaped from the grabby slayer and followed the grateful one.

Xander followed Bobbi inside the private room. He saw that Natasha and a man he knew only from the SHIELD footage.

"Hey. I hear we're part of the same club?"

"Oh yeah? What club is that?"

"Not sure...either the hair club for men, or the previously possessed by Loki minions."

Clint snorted. It wasn't that funny, but he oh so needed the release.

"Hi..." Xander extended his hand for a handshake, "I'm Xander Harris. I work with Bobbi..."

"You mean her boss don't you?" Clint extended his hand in acceptance.

Faith came into the room, "Hi, Nat..."

"Nat?" Natasha growled back at her. She noticed the spear, it was glowing.

The moment the Xander and Clint touched, they completed a connection. The residual energy in Clint connected with the constant flood in Xander. When they locked eyes, they went stiff as a board and fell on Clint's bed.

"The Fuck, not this again! What the hell is wrong with Boytoy? Dawn get Willow!"

"On it. Bobbi, call Kennedy's number. I'm going to see what keeps doing that." she sat down next to the men and put a hand over each of their heads. "Cover me. I'm going in." she told Faith.

Faith wanted to tell her no don't, but she was too slow for some reason.

Dawn slumped over Xander's body, as her mind and spirit went exploring. Inside Xander's head the mental landscape was in a constant state of change and turmoil. She met the soldier first: Xander's first line of defense. He saluted, and waved her on through. Next came the Hyena; it growled at her, but Dawn held her ground. The Hyena examined her and finally stopped, she too stepped aside, but as she passed the primal took a little nip out of her and laughed. Dawn didn't have the time to deal with this nuisance properly, otherwise she would have blasted the bitch to show her who's boss.

The last obstacle was a silver energy barrier. She formed a green lance of energy and punched he way through. She found both men lying down on the ground next to a silver lake. She saw a small creek flow from one end and the lake extending into the distance with no discernible end in sight. Both men were touching the edge of the silvery lake. She tried to wake them up, but nothing worked.

"I wonder what the commotion is all about." Tony asked agent Jessica Drew as she led Bruce, Steve and him down the crowded hall. "I thought you said that the hospital ward was this way?"

"It is. It's usually empty. I wonder what..." she saw Sam Finn and smiled at her. "Sam? Hey. Any idea what the hold-up is?"

"Not sure. We're on our way to see Doc Samson..."

"Say, Phil, it's good to see you up and about, but weren't you just stabbed to death?"

Phil shrugged, "I got better."

"Gotta say, Bruce, this is a hell of place. At least five miracles before breakfast. I wonder what lunch will bring? Say Jessica is it? What are you doing for lunch? I'm buying..."

Meanwhile the noise level in the room ahead went up another notch. They heard Faith shout.

"Nat, No! She's a frien...d," a loud thud and a groan was heard. "Kennedy, you bitch. You didn't have to hit her that hard. You okay, Nat?"

"Ow, what kind of bat did she use?" Widow asked.

"You'll live, but not for long if you keep jumping blind at slayers. They're dangerous and untamed, you know."

"You wish. I can see the leash Harris has on..."

"Hey take that back, slut."

"I guess they're okay..." Steve ignored Stark and pushed his way to the way through the crowd. Those who saw him went out of their way to make a path.

"Rude much...", but he grabbed Bruce and followed in his wake, "...at least he's useful to have around, ya know for crowd control and stuff..."

Bruce let him yammer. He felt girls inside the room up ahead.

Steve saw Faith help Natasha back to her feet. There were two more unknown girls in the room. One in leathers a lot like Faith and the other wearing a green peasant dress.

He heard the girl in the dress sigh. "What a mess. Why does he have to be such a trouble magnet? I put enough protection wards on him to repel a demon army." she said in quiet huff.

"Sorry about that..." the girl told Natasha. "...but you don't touch my Willow like that. Capice?"

"Yeah, Nat, believe it or not that's good advice. The brat just saved your life."

"What she said. The wards on Willow are strong enough to fry an elephant."

"It's okay, honey. No harm done." Willow gave Kennedy a kiss, just as Bruce, Tony and Cap came through the door.

"Whoo Hoo. Hot damn. That's what I'm talking about: we need more lesbian action."

"Your such a pig, Tony. Always were."

"Kennedy. Nice to see you all grown up and everything. How's your family? And oh and that lesbian thing that you seem to have going?"

"Shut up, Stark!" Steve had had enough.

"Oh my golly. It's Captain America..." Willow stated to hyper-ventilate.

"Willow! Now's so not the time." She pointed to Xander and Dawn who started to glow green and silver with Clint beneath them.

"Oh, oh, oh this is going to be bad. Kennedy, honey, cover me." Willow sat next to the pile of bodies on the bed and joined them in the land of Nod.

Back in Xander's increasingly over crowded head, the party was hopping as Willow joined in. She saw what Dawn was doing to the unconscious Xander and friend in the lake. "Dawny? What are you doing?" she asked.

"Willow I can't get it to stop. Whatever keeps filling up the lake is coming through that river, that was just a like a few minutes ago. And what took you...?"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. There was a thing, but now is so not the time. I see you're trying to fight the silver lake with your own lake of green energy...why?"

"'Cause Xander got possessed, or I should say successfully fought off possession, by this butt-munch Loki of the Asgard. But he kept leaking this silver energy from his eyes. I'm trying to push it out of his system."

"Dawny that's cosmic energy you're playing with. It's full of gamma radiation and..."

"I know. What do we do?" her energy was now fully mixed in with the silver lake. It looked more like a big ball of silver and green yarn.

While outside. Silver and Green lightning started to arch between Xander, Clint, Dawn and Willow. The energy started to expand slowly touching everyone in the room. It wasn't painful, but it was unpleasant.

It built and spread slowly and exploded in a cascade of green and silver energy that covered the entire Helicarrier.

For a few minutes all was quiet throughout the Helicarrier, not a soul was stirring, not even a mouse, due to the sterilized environment. You get the idea, it was quiet. Just the hum of machinery and the automatic protocols that took over when all input stopped kept the Helicarrier floating in place.

When people started to come to, they felt off for a few seconds and then the feeling was replaced with a renewed purpose, renewed energy and solidarity. They just knew that everyone from this point on would go the extra mile for everyone on board. They didn't know what happened, but this renewed purpose gave them the needed boost in moral to face the oncoming alien invasion with hope in their hearts and confidence in their leaders and heroes.

In Xander's mental landscape Willow took a look at the devastation. She saw that the silver stream of energy kept flowing and filling Xander with it's essence. It was just energy. So far it had no purpose, but it was a weakness in his spiritual and mental defense that could be exploited by someone who knew what they're doing.

She followed the link to the source and cut the threads leading into Xander. She saw that the threads lead to a spear filled with cosmic energy. It had threads going in all directions. She didn't know what they did, but she started cutting everyone of them. If they were like the ones attached to Xander, then it was best that these crossroad to the minds be cut right at the source. When she was done, everyone started to wake up.

When everyone in the room started to wake up, the slayers were the first, then Xander, Clint and Phil followed by the super soldiers.

Xander saw the spear in Faith's hand and yelled. "Faith I told you to get rid of that thing."

"You did? When?" just then Faith heard someone speaking inside her mind and it wasn't Red.

*CONNECTION TO PRIMARY WIELDER SEVERED!*

*REACQUIRING CONNECTION!*

*UNABLE TO ESTABLISH CONNECTION!*

*CONNECTION TO SECONDARY WIELDER INITIATED!*

*CONNECTION ACQUIRED!*

*CONNECTION COMPLETE!*

*NEW PRIMARY WILDER ACQUIRED!*

"THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?" Faith shouted.


	9. Chapter 9

**Part X  
SHIELD Helicarrier  
Bridge**

* * *

'This is one fucking pickle. Damned if you do, and damned if you don't. Every combat effective agent was clamoring to join the fight. And there they go; with Stark in the lead. Three fully loaded supersonic transports right behind him.' He noted that the first held the Avenger team minus Thor. The other two contained the three super soldier squads led by Colonel Finn. Their job was to establish a perimeter and containment zone. They would provide backup should the Avengers need assistance, and evacuate any civilians caught in the projected combat zone.

"Hill, you have something for me?"

"Yes, sir. Preliminary reports indicate that every biological life-form was affected. The entire K-9 unit is showing obvious signs of vast increase in intelligence aside from the physical improvements. Agent Drew's cat is no different. I thought pets weren't allowed sir; how was she able to obtain permission I'll never know?"

"Keep your mind in the game, Hill." Fury's voice was quiet, but his tone gave away his annoyance.

"Yes sir. Moving on, every member of the crew is at maximum health and all exhibit attribute increases. For most unaltered humans, the increase is at the maximum human level possible. There are also four hundred and eighty support personnel on light duty like agent Coulson. All were undergoing treatment to stabilize the damage done by the super soldier trials. All report that all damage has been reversed and their physical enhancements are active, but they are having adjustment issues. They'll need time and a period of adjustment to before they're ready for anything beyond what they are currently doing."

"For now keep them at their current assignments, until further notice, but get them to therapy to begin their rehabilitation. What else?"

"There are a few agents we had under observation. Thanks to Dr. Richards invention we were tracking several agents with a genetic disposition to gain Super Powers from a cosmic event. While the event we had was nowhere near the same power level that created the Fantastic Four, it was enough to activate some minor talents..."

"What kind of Talents? Will they be of any help to the current crisis?"

"Not really. For instance Agent Carol Danvers was spotted walking down a corridor..."

"...and..."

"...she was several inches above the floor. When confronted by another agent, Jessica Drew who was with her at the time, she denied doing so and when ordered to try she was unable to repeat the action. On her way out of the lab she was seen by the technicians this time walking over the floor instead of on it."

Fury pinched his nose and closed his eyes, "This is not helping, Hill. Agents like that are years away from achieving their full potential. Anyone else?"

"There are lots of examples like that, sir. Dr. Samson's hair turned green, but no other increase above what everyone else has received. Dr. Sofen thinks that she can almost see a way to walk through walls, but is scared to death to even try, and so on and so forth."

"Enough, Hill. Enough, just file your findings, I'll go over it when the planet isn't facing certain destruction by the hands of marauding aliens." He went back to looking out the huge windows. The transports were out of sight and there was nothing but ahead on the horizon except for peaceful open skies.

"One more thing, sir..." She hesitated but surged ahead he needed to know. "It's the Marines, sir."

"What about them?"

"They getting ready for deployment." She brought up the Marine Barracks. The screens showed men getting their equipment ready for war.

"Leave them be. If we need them, at least they'll be able to deploy at a moments' notice."

"What about the fighter wings?" Hill checked the data pad for the next item on her agenda and tried to see if she could sneak another hot item through.

"Tell them to stand down. We stick to the plan."

"They're not gonna be happy with that decision. They're all hopped up on all that extra energy and they need an outlet of some kind," she advised.

Fury fumed silently. It was not according to his plan. The Avengers has to be seen as the ones who defeated the invasion. The point had to be made that it takes only a few individuals needed to defeat any force that saw the Earth as a fruit ripe for invasion by any Yahoo who thinks he has power and can get away with it. Like Loki. Unfortunately for Loki he was just the example that Fury was looking for. He was also the reason they had to escalate their super soldier program and their weapons of mass destruction program. He did not need these headaches at his age, he was looking for a nice retirement, but it looked like that day was still decades away.

**Part XI  
SHIELD Transport I**

* * *

To Xander Faith looked like she was having a conversation with...no one, but herself. "Faith..." he elongated the ai sound.

Nothing she was either ignoring him, which was possible, or she was in a serious conversation with someone, or he thought suspiciously something. He narrowed his gaze at the spear. He so was not touching her. He looked around inside the transport and at the people it held.

To his left there was Dawn, and beside her Bruce Banner. Across from him sat Faith and her new toy. Cap to her right and Phil to her left. In the back Bobbi and Clint were getting renewing their romance. Their connection with each other stronger than ever. Natasha sat across from them without a single expression on her face. No help there. In the cockpit the pilot, some guy called Clay Quatermain was flying the plane, and the co-pilot was had a name tag that said Sam Wilson, maybe him. Xander got out of his seat and walked up to Sam. "Hey buddy, you got any paper or tissues of some kind?"

Sam looked at the guy with the Avengers. He wasn't sure who he was, but for some reason he felt he okay in his book. He looked around and found a small pack of tissues. He passed them along. "Here you go.  
Got a runny nose or something?"

"Nah, I need something to make spitballs." Xander thanked Sam and went back to his seat.

A confused Sam looked at him for a brief second, but decided that he was joking and went back to what he was doing.

Xander sat in his seat again, across from Faith and proceeded to make some spitballs. When he was sure he had enough, he targeted Faith and let go.

The first landed in her hair. This she ignored. The second grazed her left cheek and landed on Phil.

Phil gave him a look that said seriously. What are you up to? He knew Xander rarely participated of the 'Spitball" action.

Dawn was catching a quick nap and therefore was a non-issue.

Natasha didn't blink. She was still staring at Clint and Bobbi. Who were so engrossed with each other, they didn't even notice what was going around them.

Cap looked at him not believing his eyes. "What's the matter with you?" he asked, "Are you some kind of child?"

Xander halted in mid blow on the third attempt. "No. I just like my limbs attached to my body." he took careful aim.

Phil understood immediately. He unbuckled and got out of his seat as fast as he could. "Cap bail man, bail!"

Steve wanted to argue, but he trusted the other man's instinct. An agent like Phil Coulson would not play around like this. Which begged to wonder, what the hell is the kid doing playing around like that?

Sam Wilson couldn't believe what he was seeing. The punk was telling the truth, but what mystified him was Coulson's reaction. The man was a straight shooter and he bolted like his life was in danger. 'It's just a spitball for god's sake.' he thought.

Natasha noticed the action this time and was curious enough to stop starring at the oblivious couple who stayed oblivious. 'That's too much. Maybe Xander will share his spitballs?'

The commotion woke the lightly sleeping Dawn up. She saw Xander aim his blow gun at Faith and Phil and Cap were jumping away from their seats. "Why?"

"She's awake, but she will not respond to external stimuli." he blew and this time the spitball landed right on target, in the middle of her forehead.

Dawn understood completely and went baqck to sleep. 'She must be having quite the daydream.'


	10. Chapter 10

**Part XI Continued  
SHIELD Transport I**

* * *

Faith looked up trying to see what landed on her forehead. Across from her Xander was non-chalantly putting away his blow gun. "What? Can't you see I'm busy?" she was all hot and bothered and it wasn't for the good reason. She removed the spitball and looked at it. "You ready to lose some limbs? I'll even let you chose."

Faith..." he began with a deceptive calm.

"Yeah X?" she was building to a steady boil, just about to explode. You let a guy into your panties a few times and he thinks be owns you. She waited for him to continue. This had better be good.

"Where were you?"

"Where was I? This some kind of trick question? Right here you jerk, now, which is it?" she asked unbuckling her safety harness.

Xander ignored the threats, it wouldn't be her if she didn't. "Funny. To me it looked like you were someplace else. Who were you talking to?"

"Don't pretend you don't know. You were listening to me argue with the spear just like everyone else." she pointed at everyone in the plane. She noticed that Phil and Cap were out their seats. She jerked to a stop before she pounded the insensitive jerk. She was never this oblivious. When did they move? "What's going on? When did they move out of their seats?"

"That's not really important, they have a perfectly good alibi for getting out of their seats. You don't have one for being elsewhere when your body's here. So. You and the spear. Is it gettin' to know ya kind of thing?"

"Ya serious. No one heard nuthin'?" when everyone shook their heads in the negative, "Huh. You son of a BITCH! You lied." she said looking at the spear clutched tightly in her hand. "Get away from me!" she threw the spear to Xander in disgust.

"NO...", Xander reflexively caught the thrown spear.

* CONTACT! SECONDARY WIELDER DETECTED!*

*INITIATING MERGER...*

*MERGER COMPLETE!*

*SECONDARY WIELDER ACQUIRED!*

*PRIMARY WIELDER WITHIN PROXIMITY!*

*RETURNING TO STANDBY MODE!*

Xander slumped in his seat. Faith rushed to catch him. She took the spear from his hand, just in case it was the cause. Of course it was the cause. She thought. What else could it be. Although it never did that to her..., "Come on Xander. Speak to me...you jerk. If this is payback for threatening you, I didn't meant. I was just foolin'', ya gotta know that. C'mon X say something. Anything..."

"Faith. It's alright. Just give him time to recover. You know he's gonna be okay." Dawn helped Faith and waited for Xander to recover, she gave him thirty seconds and the. She'd do her thing...

Xander blinked and once again his eyes did a credible imitation of a flash light. "I hate intelligent weapons. They always have their own agenda. Here you go Faith you lucked out. Your Rune weapon has the same personality of a robot. I feel like I just had a full course meal."

"Hold still..." after a quick exam, Dawn sighed. "...the good news is that there's no permanent connection, but every time you he that thing you're lake will refill to the brim. You're also leaking a small, minuscule amount of cosmic energy..." Dawn looked up from Xander to Faith and back again. She frowned, "...In fact you're both leaking cosmic energy, it's like there's a field around the two of you and it's compatible with the other. Different flavors of ice cream as it were. You know you're chocolate, she's vanilla..."

Faith protested, "Nu uh, I'm chocolate, I'm always the chocolate, he can be any other flavor he wants, but I get the chocolate. Got it?"

"Got it." Xander and Dawn replied together. How could they forget about Faith and her chocolate obsession? It was like Buffy and her shoes fetish.

"Why chocolate?" Steve asked.

Faith was about to explain, in detail, but Xander cut her off. He didn't want to see Steve bleed through the nose from embarrassment. They needed the man at his best. Xander's memories were a bit hazy, he remembered how effective a combat leader the man was during the war.

"That's enough for now...she'll tell you after, say is that the New York Skyline?" he asked.

Steve squinted and confirmed that it was, "Good eyes."

"Perks and pitfalls..." he shrugged. He'll worry if they survive.

**Part XII  
Manhattan NY**

* * *

"Is it me? Or is that Stark falling down from his tower? Without the suit." Xander's vision was sharp and getting sharper.

Their pilot Clay Quatermain used the sensor suite to pick out the falling man and project the image on the HUD.

"Yeah that's the player. How come he's flying without a suit?" Faith didn't that was something the Cyborg was able to do without the other power attachments.

"He can't..." confirmed Phil. "...Ah! There's the rest of his suit. See that red and gold missile..."

The rest of the passengers saw the missile catch up to their falling comrade. They saw it extend in four directions and encase the falling hero in a new suit of Armor.

"Neat." said Dawn.

"Must be the mark VII. His other suits couldn't do that." Natasha joined the rest of them at the front of the transport.

"Get ready to deploy. Commander tell Colonel Fin we're going in. He's to secure the landing pad on the roof. The ship will be the forward HQ. I want you mobile in case we need a quick evac." Steve issued orders and everyone hopped to. No one questioned his right to do so. The only one who could have countermanded any of his commands was Xander, and he just shrugged and went along.

In fact Xander tool out several energy bars and passed them out. You don't command Slayers in the field without bringing some munchies. Even Natasha took a bar, except for Clint and Bobbi.

"I guess it's true what they say..." said Dawn.

"What do they say...?" asked Faith.

"I guess you can live on just love and air. Bobbi used to grab the first bar. She didn't even notice that Xander was packing her favorites.

"Those two can't be on the same team. They'll be the death of us." declared Steve.

"Let them be Steve. It's not the army. They'll pull through when it counts.

"Clay, open the back, we're jumping out. Dawn grab Bruce we're hitting the Tower. Cap, Nat would you like a lift?"

Captain America nodded yes and Widow just held out her hand.

Bobbi you and Clint grab the high ground. You're the snipers. Faith, grab Phil and hit the ground. Phil take over John Walker's squad when they follow you. Fin will co-ordinate from the tower. Come on let's go see a god about his work permit."

They all jumped at the same time. Xander along with Cap and Natasha raced to the penthouse. Natasha led the way. She knew the lay of the land best.

Thor landed with a thud ahead of them. "It's good to see that you have survived my brother's attentions Black Knight." he addressed Xander.

"Black Knight." Natasha looked him up and down and said, "It fits."

"Meh! At least it's not the White Knight. That's what the last psycho called me."

Natasha knew all about the white Knight and his history with the master vampire Angelus. She was glad Xander decided to go with the name change. The White Knight's rep in the supernatural community was well known. They didn't need the extra baggage that came with the rep.

"It's good to see that you survived yours."

"Well met then. Let us put an end to my brother's misadventure with all due haste. He has been left to his own devices for too long."

"I'm down with that. He's your brother, you want first crack at him?"

"If by first crack, you mean have a try at persuading him to stop this foolishness, then the answer is yes. Please wait here, I will deal with my brother privately."

Xander gestured to Thor to go ahead. As soon as he was out of hearing range he said, "Ten bucks, says he gets stabbed when he's not looking. Any takers?"

Natasha gave him a look that said do I look like a fool to you? "Let's make it interesting, him getting stabbed is a given. How about where?"

Steve could not believe that these were people he was expected the fight with and defended the planet from unspeakable evil. But given what he knew about Loki and Thor he instead said, "Upper right shoulder when he leans on him."

"Ooh nice one. I see you've played this game before. Nat..."

Natasha fumed while another person took liberty with her name. Her reputation for deadly revenge was slipping, she needed to do something about that, and soon. "Lower back center."

"Another good choice. You guys are grabbing all the premium slots. I'm going with lower, left side." Xander looked around, and saw Riley lead his squad out of the transport. "Riley leave a fire team by he transport, and get another over to the portal machine. Let's try and recover Dr. Selig and the Tesseract."

"Will do Xand." Riley began giving orders to do just that. Xander kept an eye on the sky as Stark took out the leading elements of the invasion. "Say what you want about the man Steve, but give him his due. He's giving us the time to get ready. Can't ask for more."

Steve looked up and after a few moments grudgingly agreed."

They heard a load grunt and saw Thor lay a beat down on his brother. "Anyone see where he got it?"

"Lower left side I think."

"Nuts. Oh well let's grab the weasel before he gets away. You guys coming?" he jumped, Steve and Natasha jumped with him, each held unto an outstretched arm. He activated the feather-fall tattoo and poured on the power.

They saw Loki land on an alien hover fighter and followed him to the ground.

**First Round...**

**Part XIII  
Manhattan NY**

* * *

Peter Parker swung from building to building, making his way to midtown when his spider sense started to tingle. He dodged automatically and tried to see what, or who could be after him this time. He glimpsed a green streak from above and to the left. It was going very fast. 'Let's see who has that kind of speed with that color scheme. Green Goblin? Nope, not fast, or Smokey enough. Plus no insane cackling. Also Harry's still going to therapy when I talked to him last night. Hulk? No, no, he can't zip through the air like that, plus no military alerts. That was an electro static discharge. Electro? Maybe, but much outside his M.O., gee who could it be?'

He dodged and twisted while letting go of one web line, he did a quad somersault, and a quick direction reversal to see who was interrupting his lunch date with M.J., 'Beetle should have guessed! Rocket Ricochet's too yellow and Prowler's too slow, and Hobbie promised no more surprise training sessions after the last one ended with me fishing him out of the east river.

"Abe buddy, what's up? Why are you so set on ruining my lunch date with a bevy of Supermodels, can you apply the bevy to the supermodels? I'm not sure; I need to ask them when I finish twisting your wings off. Abey, why the silent treatment? What's got you so down? Am I interrupting anything special? Let me guess you just pulled of a jewel heist and thought I saw you, and now you feel compelled to continue our wrestle mania LVIII, come on admit it, are you nostalgic for a repeat visit up he river, without a paddle... Say Abe are you okay? You haven't said anything yet. Is something wrong? C'mon, you can tell uncle Spidey all about it..."

"Shut up you annoying fool! This is revenge! Pure and simple. No heist! No robbery. Not even a fucking jaywalk. I have had enough of you. You are going down for the final count. Do you understand? This is the last time the world will see the spider fool swing..."

Abe Jenkins was interrupted by a hover vehicle of some kind shooting energy blasts at him. He was so focused on killing his arch nemesis that he ignored the proximity radar warnings.

The blasts missed and he went into evasive maneuvers. Spiderman was doing the same.

"The hell these come from? The nerve of them interrupting our special time like this. Say Abe? Is that a rip in space over the New Stark Tower?"

"Holy Fuck! It's a space dragon. What's going on?" he twisted sideways and zig-zagged all over the sky. The hover fighters were unable to keep up.

"Oh my god. They're going after the civilians!" Spiderman was horrified at the carnage going on at street level. Cars were exploding all over the street as the silver aliens from dimension X were firing into the lunch time traffic jam.

"NO. You bastards that was Jake's. What did he ever do to you? That was the only watering hole that let guys like me hang around without a hassle. You'll pay for that!" The Beetle went into a power dive after the hover responsible for destroying Jake's Place. He got a lock on his HUD and he let go. These things were fast, but nowhere near as agile as the annoying insect. He saw the insect create a web shield over the street and try to rescue some of the trapped civilians. He had no problems with the people themselves. And he'd rather kill the these alien intruders. Let Spiderman handle the rescues, he'll take care of the revenge.

**Manhattan NY  
Stark Tower, Front of Building.**

* * *

Xander went into a power dive with Cap and Tasha clinging to an arm. They saw Loki fire indiscriminately into the crowds below. "I don't care who takes that guy down; so long as he goes down."

"No arguments there." Natasha pulled out one of her over powered pistols with the special explosive ammo and started blasting away. She was the only one free to do so. Xander was transport and Captain America needed a stable base to throw his discus of destruction.

Xander landed gently despite the speed of their descent. She would have to ask him how he did that later. She took out he second pistol and soon she was blasting away with both. Rogers was using his shield and Xander pulled out a mini-Uzi from his jacket.

Up above Iron Man did a quick pass over the streets blasting away at every target he could find.

She heard explosions from multiple locations through out the city. Down the street she saw Faith use the spear to blast the hover fighter and Phil get off the occasional shit with the devastator canon. Effective, but slow. Banner looked lost. He didn't want to lose control just yet. He might be more of problem to his allies than to the aliens. Thor let go with a huge lightning bolt that fried some of the grounded troops.

She switched targets. The ones on the ground were more her speed anyway. Xander pulled out the black sword and was swinging it one hand while he fired the machine pistol with the other. He was firing in an opposite direction than the one he was focused on with the sword. She wondered how he was doing that. 'Maybe there's a trick to it. I'll have to remember to ask...', she ducked and rolled as a Chitauri came too close. She shot him from the back and his head exploded in a splash of gore. She put rolled again, putting away one of her pistols and coming up with he staff rifle. She saw that it was simple to operate. She used it to fire on one trying to sneak on Rogers and shot the one going for Xander.

Xander sent a smile her way and returned the favor. "Fuck Me!"

"What? Now?" Natasha looked at Xander wondering at his loss of composure.

"No one told me they had dragons. I hate space dragons. And correct me if I'm wrong but does that look like armor on them?"

"Sorry got the improved sensory package from the thing your girlfriend did with the Red Witch, but even that's not enough to see that far. You must have something else going for you. No clue what that might be..."

"Seriously. You can't see the details on them suckers? They're freaking huge."

"to you, Harris maybe, but to the rest of us mortals they're barely a blur. I only have your word that they are in fact dragons. From this distance they look like fish."

"Fish...okay, you may have something there, but mostly they're dragons...or a hybrid dragon fish...I'm getting a headache trying to figure those things out. I think I'll just kill a few of the monster in the silver armor instead. Always much simpler."

"Agreed." the Black Widow got down to some serious killing, while her companions did the same.

"Cap..." Xander pointed with the sword towards the police barricade forming down the street.

"On it. You hold them to this section while I take a quick look."

"Got it."

**Manhattan NY  
Stark Tower, Landing Pad.**

* * *

"Sam! Secure Dr. Selvig. Jackson take your team and setup on the west side. Lori, I want you to cover the south side. I want constant feeds coming in. from all positions, get some cameras set up and don't forget to take the potable shields with you." Riley held his wife's hand for a second, and let her go do her job.

Sam and her team triggered the short range rocket packs and hopped the distance to gate machine. She saw that Dr. Selvig was unconscious on the ground. "Hank take care of him. Jackie, help me get the portable shield setup."

By the time Sam and Jackie got the shield up their position was under fire. The shield took the hits head on and held. The adamantium center, was guaranteed to hold, but the rest of the shield was experimental. It did well in the test trials, but this was the first combat test. She hoped it would stand up to the punishment.

A blaster bolt hit one of the radiating fins, instead of the adamantium center and glowed red briefly until the energy was dissipated.

"So far, so good Sam."

"Let's hope it holds up. Hank get Dr. Selvig out of here, and don't take too long. While you're at it, see if you can't bring a crate of laser guided missiles with you. I don't think the heat seekers will be as effective and I don't want to justify putting holes in all those nice buildings."

"On it Ma'am." He picked up the unconscious man and triggered his jet pack to get off the roof as fast as he could. He ran into the transport and let the medic take over. He grabbed a crate of missiles and on a second thought grabbed one of the phase two rifles. 'This might come in handy.' he ran out and short hopped his way back to the top.

"What took you?" joked Jackie.

"You wouldn't believe the traffic jam out there. Why they're shooting each other out of the sky." his word was punctuated with several explosions as Iron Man cleared the immediate area around the gate machine. Sam, any ideas how we're supposed to get through that shield?"

"I've taken a look at it. Nothing we can do, but babysit sit this thing. If Stark can't come up with something fast, we might need to call up the mojo department."

"Man. I hate dealing with those freaks..."

"That's enough of that Sgt. Boyer. You know that they have their hearts in the right place, it's just that playing with all that energy messes them up a bit."

"Not helping Ma'am." he flinched as Stark got one the hover fighters that came too close. 'At least the man is sticking close. No wonder. I wouldn't want anything like this to happen to my place. Why aren't they landing and taking over this position?' he wondered. "Any idea why they haven't turned up the heat yet?"

"Why would they? These are the lead assault elements. There job's not take and hold real estate, but to hit and demoralize. They'll let those big boys take care of that." she pointed at the dragon fish making their way out of the portal.

I guess you're right." he said raising the phase two rifle and taking aim he shot a hover fighter that came too close. "Whoa Nelly. This thing sure packs a wallop. How come we all didn't get issued with these when we left. Walker and his boys always get the good stuff." he complained. However he had a huge smile on his face as the hover he shot exploded.


	11. Chapter 11

**Part XIV  
Manhattan NY  
Midtown  
**

Matt Murdoch swung his billy-club behind his back to block a katana strike by a Hand ninja. His lover Electra Natachios jumped over an attacker and blocked an overhead strike with her Sai from two different attackers.

They've had a running battle with the Hand force since the early morning. It started at Stick's dojo. He and Electra had dropped by to see their mentor around midnight. A few hours later the Hand had attacked in force. It was now noon and the battle had moved slowly from Hells Kitchen to midtown. They tried to keep the battle to the shadows. The Hand were quite accommodating, in that they didn't want the exposure either.

Matt had detected some thing strange overhead, but his senses were concentrated on the battle at hand. He couldn't spare the time to look into the matter.

As the minutes passed the disturbance had moved in their direction. Multiple objects traveling at high speed started to come their way. He didn't know if they were more friend or foe. Only time would tell. he head explosions and the screams of terrified civilians running for lives. Some did not survive the smell of charred flesh reached his nose. He detected a familiar heart beat. 'Looks like Peter's in the area. I hope he can do something about that, because the Hand certainly won't give the time to do so.

"Come back here you 'Murdering Bastards' you won't get away with that..."

Looked like Peter was serious. He was past the quip stage, and when Peter Parker the Amazing Spider-man stopped punning it must be serious.

"Aaarrraaagg! WHERE'S THE BASTARDS?WHERE ARE THEY?" a figure covered in burning and smoking clothes burst through the walls of the alley. Three admantium claws protruded from each hand. "HAND! YOU BASTARDS! YOU'RE ALL DEAD."

'Looks like someone else the Hand pissed off. And it looks like he's the more durable sort. Burning hair and flesh and he's not even slowing down.'

Wolverine sent after the Hand assassins with a savage ferocity that would have shocked the pair, had they been anyone else. These two have seen much in their lives and were thankful for the small respite that the savage fighter's entrance gave them.

As the battle with the forces of the Hand became more intense, everyone noticed the level of violence and destruction on the main streets of Manhattan was even more profound than the battle fought in the shadows.

"Daredevil some thing's not right. It looks like a full blown war is taking place on the streets. There's more people in strange costumes, even stranger than that friend of yours Spider-man."

"Did you bastards bring your Hand problems on top of my head? It's getting so a man can't drink in peace anymore."

"nice to see you too Patch. But my students aren't responsible for your condition, and you're the one who invited himself to this Hand party."

"Stick. Should've known you'd be here. Not many people that can bring out the Hand in force in this city."

"True, but then you would know better than most. Look to the skies for your answers Patch."

Wolverine did just that. The sky was full of futuristic looking hover craft and they were strafing the the streets. He saw that annoying Spider-man he heard about fighting them in he air. He was coin pretty good too. He had webbed up one side of the alley and led them into his web.

"So thems the bastards that destroyed Jake's. I think I'll have a few words with them." his claws had retreated when Stick came out of the shadows. Now they snicked out from either wrist. He made his way towards the bastards. He took a sniff to identify them and recoiled in disgust. "Nothing on Earth smells like this." he complained.

Spider-man swooped in and started pounding on he aliens. "That's cause they're not from planet Earth. They're like aliens from dimension X. Ewww is that burning hair I smell. Yeah you are the stench I smell, at least these guys are aliens. What's your excuse?"

Logan looked at them man with the motor mouth and slapped his forehead 'No way. There's no way there could be another Wade out there. I just left what's left if him burning inside Jake's." again he sniffed the atmosphere and got more information than he ever wanted. 'Damn. He smells like one of mine.' , "Hey you..." Spider-man pointed to himself with a free hand as he punched out a trapped alien. "...Yeah, you. Any relegation to the Parkers?" he asked.

"What! How did you know?"

"I can smell it on you. My daughter married a Parker at he turn of the century."

"Last century, 2000?"

"No you idiot the one before that. That's why you smell like one of mine. Tell me, do you have a fast healing factor?"

"Yeah, about two to three times normal. Why?"

"Can you regenerate?" Logan asked another question instead of answering.

"Yeah. I think so. Before I got my powers I used to wear glasses, after the powers eyes became 10/10 and I could see in low light conditions. Peter did not like where this was heading. This guy was insinuating that he was his great, great-grandfather. It was why he was answering his questions.

"I can see you're stronger, faster and tougher than normal and it looks like you have the senses and healing factor to match someone from my side of the street."

"Hey. I am no where as hairy. So that can't be true..."

"Other people get to have an influence on the gene pool, there's bound to be some divergence after a few generations. At least you don't throw webs out of your butt, that's always a plus. Did you get your powers around thirteen or fourteen?"

"I was bit by a radio-active spider two month shy of fifteen."

"makes sense now. That's why you don't have the scent of a mutant. But you're a mutate."

"Hey. How is it that you know so much about genetics. From the looks of you I'd have said barroom brawler."

"I teach at the Xavier institute. You can't work there with picking up something about genetics. Alright grandson. Wanna tell me what's going on out there?"

A shell shocked Peter proceeded to do just that. He couldn't believe it. This hairy guy was his great, great-grandfather, and he looked mean. 'Don't think I'll be seeing any presents during my birthday, or anytime soon. He grumbled under his breath.

Logan heads and smiled. Hole the kid was finishing of the last of the trapped aliens he heard what the kid says. 'Not bad. Now to break him out of that smart mouth habit of his. "Heh he he..."

Peter felt a shiver of ice go down his spine. 'Could this get any worse.' he looked up and saw a giant dragon fish type monster with armor plate all over fly overhead. 'Me and my big unopened mouth. It's getting so bad, Murphy doesn't even wait for me to say it anymore. The bastard's reading my mind.

"Hey did someone catch the number of that runaway BBQ." a charred Wade Wilson made it out of the same hole Logan came out of a few minutes earlier. They've been drinking. He had a nice buzz going. The bastard author must have been counting on that to blindside him.

He took a time out and grabbed a copy of the script, and tried to read ahead. "You're despicable..." he threw the script in disgust. The son of a bitch was writing this story on the fly. There was no ahead to look at. "You realize this means war." he threatened.

A one hover fighter broke up over the area and crashed into Wade for no particular reason. After Wade made his way from beneath the wreckage, he fumed. 'The bastard doesn't play fair. Gotta remember that.'

He saw Electra decapitate a Hand ninja with a borrowed katana. He was sure she was gonna give that back. The sway of her breasts mesmerized him. "Say Bud?" he asked Spider-man "What was I thinking?" as his eyes followed the hypnotic back and forth as she jumped and dodged.

Some Developments...

**Part XIV  
Manhattan NY  
**

Cap made it back in record time. "The police will EVAC the trapped civilians. They will also spot for us from the higher levels. They will link up with Captain Walker's squad on 39th. "

"Now that's taken care of let's do our part. Here they come again. Xander shot the hover fighters as they strafed his position keeping them off their backs. At the other end of the plaza Phil put the devastator canon to good use. Every once in a whole a hover fighter would explode.

"Cap..." he waited for Steve to finish his latest opponent.

"Yes Xander, what's on your mind?"

"Is it my imagination, or has the enemy shifted the concentration from our position to Phil and the others?"

The two leaders saw a pair of energy beams fired by both Phil and Faith. Each beam brought down a hover fighter, but it wasn't all that difficult with so many targets of opportunity. Dawn was providing a shield to keep the air nuisance down while Faith and Phil dealt with those on the ground.

"I see what you mean. I've also noticed that for all the forces they have at their disposal. They've yet to go further than Cpt. Walker's positions."

"Sure looks that Steve. I think they'll deal with the points of resistance first before they move out. As long as we make them pay for every inch, we have these suckers contained..."

"What?" Steve asked.

"...the only downside I see, we'll run out of people if we don't get some serious backup."

"Let's make it a little harder. Let's concentrate our efforts. Come on. We're going to back them up. Say any idea why Dr. Banner hasn't changed into the Hulk yet?"

"One. Her name's Dawn. We're gonna have to separate those two I think."

Natasha along with Xander and Steve fought their way to the other group. When the seven fighter were together the enemy forces took the opportunity to go all out against them.

Dawn's force field kept the bulk of the air assault from taking advantage of their lack of air support. On the ground the Avengers made short work of the alien infantry.

"Dawn I want you to cover the east end." Xander sent Dawn one way, and as soon as she was far enough, he sent Phil to cover her.

"Doctor Banner. Now's a good time to get angry. We need the Hulk to take the fight to them." Steve pointed to the increasing number of hover fighters. Iron Man could only do so much.

"Captain Rogers. We have a fresh wave coming down from the portal. Me and Bobbi are barely slowing them down."

"On it agent Barton. Thanks for the heads up." he turned to Bruce waiting for the other man to do something.

"You know Cap. I never needed the time to get angry. I was always angry. I also don't think getting angry is an issue any more." he casually hanged to the Hulk and continued to have a calm and intelligent conversation with Steve. "Whatever happened on the Helicarrier did a few changes. Can't you feel the difference in yourself?"

Steve was surprised by this development, he wasn't sure what it meant to have a calm rational Hulk when a more savage one was needed. War was a savage and barbaric exercise in violence and destruction. Something the Hulk would excel at. A powerful rational scientist was. It the best man for the current job. At least he hoped the man's unlimited power would at least stem the so far endless tide of alien invaders. "Yes Dr. Banner I do feel the changes both the physical and the mental. While the physical is welcome at this point. The mental will take some time to adapt to, here's hoping we're still alive to adapt properly."

"I see your point." Bruce replied casually as he did a short hop and caught a pair of hover fighters that came under Dawn's shield and slammed them together. He threw away the remains of the destroyed vehicles and their occupants and continued to hold a rational conversation with Steve. "Tell me Captain. How do you rate our chances?" he grabbed the body of a wrecked van and threw it a cluster of aliens advancing on their position. After that off hand display of destruction Steve let the subject drop for now and concentrated on doing his part. He was curious about one thing though. When would Xander change the clip on his machine pistol. He'd been firing it non stop for a few minutes now, he also wondered where he could get one. Maybe if he asked nicely.

**Toronto, Canada.  
Fantasy Car  
**

"Any idea on what's going on at home stretch?" Ben Grimm listened attentively to the televised broadcasts. He couldn't believe he was missing the fun. An alien invasion and the appearance of Captain America. They may have missed the beginning of his shindig, but hey certainly would be there for the main event.

"From the data gathered by the sensors in the Baxter Building an extra-terrestrial invasion is in progress. The intruders are pouring in through a portal that was opened over he new Stark Tower."

"Ya think maybe Stark has anything to do with dat?"

"No Ben. Early reports suggest that Iron Man is one of several individuals deposit ls for slowing the advancing alien invaders. They have managed to contain the combat zone to within a few blocks of the Stark Tower, with the exception of a growing side conflict developing in midtown. It would seem that Spider-man and a few other adventurers have been keeping another large portion of the invading force busy. SHIELD has also deployed several squads, nothing more. They are currently holding position, but they will soon require reinforcements."

"Reed honey, I think we should just concentrate more on getting there as fast as possible and less on the analysis, just make sure we have the information we need on hand before we hit he combat zone."

"Say Reed, will Johnny be joining us or is he still playing with all those Hollywood starlets in L.A."

"Leave my brother alone Ben. If Johnny can join us, he will."

"Sorry Sussie. Didn't mean nuthin' by it. I know the matchstick is good people, but he sure picked a fine time to go make that movie of his."

As the Fantastic Three made their way toward N.Y. Their progress was monitored. By SHIELD satellites. Where Nick Fury was keeping a close eye on their location at all times.

**Manhattan NY  
**

"Rogers. The big boys are about to make to street level."

Thor landed next to Steve as he received Stark's warning. "Get ready here they come!" he braced himself for a new level of destruction. "We're ready. The big boys want to play."

Xander mouthed to Faith, "Big Boys?"

"In that case I'm bringing the party to you." Stark banked to avoid a wing strike, and let loose another barrage of mini-missiles. He sped around the building and the dragonfish thing followed.

On the ground Natasha saw what was coming their way, and she wasn't too impressed with Stark's date, "I don't see how that's a party." she told Faith.

Faith smiled for the gift she was about to receive and started to build up a charge. "Here it comes, fish fillets. Ha ha ha ha ha."

"You are on strange girl. You know that?" Natasha looked at her guns and thought, "I going to need something bigger."

"Yeah something bigger. Definitely bigger..." Xander was looking at Dawn.

The dragonfish was busy adding to the destruction as Tony teased the engine of destruction by just staying out of reach, of the slow moving behemoth.

Bruce saw the dragonfish coming his way and he thought 'Party.' with a big smile he got set and punched with all his might. the weight and momentum pushed the Hulk back, Bruce strained to keep the beast back, but was unable to summon the same energy that his more savage alter ego could channel from his unbridled rage. He was slowly pushed back towards the rest of the Avengers.

"DAWN...BIG...NOW!" ordered Xander.

Dawn turned around saw what was coming down. She dropped the shield and activated a rarely used power. She got big. She saw the slow it down, but not stop it in it's tracks. Stark tried blasting away at the armor and flesh underneath. It wasn't enough to stop the monster in it's tracks. When it toppled a lot of good people would be hurt.

She ran the few steps needed and with a spinning back kick to the center of the dragonfish's back, she managed to topple it the other way.

Loki saw, and he was not happy. "Send in the rest." he ordered. It was time to win a world for his very own.


	12. Chapter 12

**Stark Tower Plaza**

**Manhattan NY  
**

"Looks like Loki's target is Faith." Xander looked at Steve and got a confirmation nod in return. Steve had come to the same conclusion.

"He's after the spear. If he wants it so much let's make sure he works for it."

Xander looked at Steve with admiration. "You are one sneaky guy. You know that?"

Steve had a surprised look on his face that said, who? Me?

Xander wasn't buying. "Please teach me your ways master." Xander pleaded in his Igor imitation.

Steve looked strangely at Xander. He got the reference, one of the few he did, he thought, 'Good man, but an insane sense of humor.' he shrugged. Not like he can be choosy with who his friends were. Xander and the girls were at least his physical equals. He could relax when they were around without having to worry about accidentally hurting them. On the plus side they were right next to him in the thick of battle. You can't ask more of a man or woman. They stood tall shoulder to shoulder with him facing the monsters out of this world. He could put up with a little insane. "Natasha. I need a way to close that portal."

"I know." she rolled her eyes. What did he think she was 'born yesterday' she looked around and saw Stark was still on the ground looking the dragonfish corpse. "I need a lift." she didn't give him a choice. She got a tight grip on his arm and waited. When he didn't do as she says right away, she asked, "Well?"

"I am not a taxi." he complained.

"Dude. Get her the fuck up there. There's only so many things I'm allowed to kill in one day. And in case you haven't noticed, it's a target rich environment. Move your ass!" Faith pointed the glowing end of the spear at Tony to emphasize her point.

Tony flew. He had seen the kind of damage that thing did. And Faith was pissed off just enough to start blasting.

Tony landed next to the SHIELD transport on his landing pad. He dropped her and took off after the other targets he could shoot back at.

"Widow." Natasha saw that Colonel Fin was waiting for her beside the rear hatch. "This way." he pointed inside the vehicle. "Dr. Selvig is starting to wake up.

Natasha nodded her head in acknowledgment and followed him in. Overhead Stark was thinning the opposition.

Back on the Ground Steve was giving the troops there marching orders. "Thor we need to slow them down. The portal's the best place for that. You've got the lightning, light the bastards up. Faith. Can you back him up?"

"Yeah I guess..." she looked at the spear and told it to behave. She ignored the snide remarks form the robot wanna be in her hand. If she wanted snide, she'll stick near Dawn.

"Xander you Phil and I will take care of those on the ground. They want to take us out let's take advantage of that. We'll give them targets they can't refuse."

"Easy for him to say..." Xander whispers to Phil, "His bulls eye at least can take a hit. I need me one of those shield things."

"Do you know how to use one?" snarked Phil.

"How hard can it be? The guy wearing the flag suit is using it." Xander felt the back of his neck itch, " He's looking at me funny. Isn't he?" Phil nodded in return and waited for the canon to finish charging. Great punch, but takes too long to charge. Four shots minute. Not good.

Ignoring the by play of his support team, "Stark keep them in the zone. Any get to 39th help Cpt. Walker turn them back, or fry them up. And Doctor Banner..." he turned to the second biggest gun in his deck, "...Smash!"

"Ha ha ha ha. Some what appropriate Captain. I'll certainly give it my best shot."

"You talk too much!" declared Dawn. She picked him up and flung him with all her strength at the next dragonfish that was in her throwing range.

Captain America re-assessed the battlefield as an ever increasing number of enemy forces were pouring in. Thor twiddling his Hammer and flew toward the empire state building.

Faith looked at her spear and asked, "Why can't you do that?"

The spear didn't bother to reply. That question was beneath it. It made sure that her wielder would not lose her grip and followed the thunderer. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

"She should learn to stop teasing intelligent rune weapons. They have no sense of humor." Xander looked at his sword as he said that. "You realize that we need more bodies to throw at these guys." Steve knew that. He wasn't born yesterday. It just felt like it.

"Captain Walker. Detach two teams and send them to the east end of the Stark Plaza. Lt. Miller please bring half your squad to the same location."

"On our way. Eta in sixty seconds." Graham gave quick instructions to his second, grabbed the rest of the squad and headed to the subway. The aliens haven't made it that far down yet.

"Hawkeye!"

"Yes Captain."

"Start feeding Stark some targets and keep me informed of the enemy concentrations. Ms. Morse..."

"Yes..."

"Watch his six."

"Not a problem. I'm always watching his six."

"Man you have to stop feeding my girls all these juicy lines. I can't blame them when you make it this easy." Xander saw the blushing man go a deeper shade of red. He wondered just how inexperienced was he?

Steve let the comment go. He dug himself in too deep and couldn't climb out. Instead he took his frustrations out on the handy dandy aliens that offered themselves up as a distraction. He should remember to say a few kind words at their burial.

**Manhattan, N.Y.  
**

Luke Cage jumped up and grabbed a hover fighter by the chassis and pulled himself up behind the pilot. As the pilot turned to shoot him, Luke grabbed his skull and crushed it as he made a fist. He jumped off at another passing hover fighter. No way was he going to try and pilot these death machines. Once was enough. His partner Iron fist was behind Misty Knight as she piloted one of the alien vehicles. 'How come she can drive that thing and I can't?' he saw Colleen Wing remove another head with her katana. She was building quite the pile. He kept close to the girl to make sure Misty didn't tear him a new one for letting the fool girl get her damn self killed. He grumbled and took out his anger at the fools who kept throwing themselves in his way. They gave up trying to shoot his diamond hard skin a while back. Now it was all up. Lose and personal with the bladed power staves they used. 'Maybe I should try one of those. They look seriously cool.', he picked one off the ground and swung it like a bar at the next fool. The alien took the hit on the chest armor and was hit like home run. "Right out of the park. Now that's what I'm talking about."

Meanwhile Danny Rand was jumping from one hover to the next leaving a trail of unconscious bodies behind. When he ran out, Misty was there, to provide a quick pick up so they could go after the next bunch.

"Is that Spider-man?" Colleen ducked a stab and parried an overhead strike as she made her way to Luke.

Luke stopped playing baseball with the aliens and looked up to the sky. "Yeah. That's the fool. Wonder what he did to piss off do many of them? There's close to a dozen of those things on his tail."

They saw the Spider do those gravity defying acrobatic stunts of his. He took them down an alley and doubled back. He webbed up the alley entrance and started to taunt them. The alien wing we t after their antagonist like a bunch of pissed off hornets. Right into another sticky, giant web. "Ha ha ha ha. They never learn."

"What did I tell you. That fool has a death wish."

"Hey I heard that Q-ball. Say...that's quite the collection you guys got going. Hi Colleen. Miss me?" he turned to Luke, "Red heads are my secret weakness, I'll have you know." he mock whispered.

"No it's not. It's the empty space between your ears."

"Ooh. Colleen watch out." Peter warned.

"What? Where?" she didn't see anything.

Peter pointed at Luke. "His head's about to explode from the effort it took to come up with that one."

"Christmas. You just can't leave enough alone." the disgust on Luke's face looked normal. It was the same look he had every time Peter saw the man.

"Say Colleen. Why don't you and Misty come and join the fun at the shindig we got going a few streets over. We even have Hand ninja."

"The Hand are helping out?"

"Well. Not so much helping out as attacking everybody. Hell even Beetle and Rhino are helping out, and I think some of Fisk's boys were taking pot shots from the shadows."

"Sure. Why not? Let's get Misty and Danny..." she blew a sharp whistle and Misty swung back towards her partner. She saw her talking to Spider-man. "Spider-man has a big party going down, want to join?"

Misty looked at her boyfriend, who shrugged why not. The aliens seemed to follow them more than attacking a particular area. It was better to get them together in one place than to have them shoot up the city in multiple locations.

"Aw come on! You're not seriously thinking of going with this fool?"

"Who's helping out Spidey?" asked Misty.

"Who isn't? Come on. Can't dawdle got paces to be aliens to taunt." with that said the incredible Spiderman shot a webline and took to the skies. Colleen climbed next to Misty and Luke after a look from Danny got in as well. Misty followed the rapidly disappearing Spiderman through the concrete canyons of Manhattan island.

**  
Stark Tower Roof.  
Manhattan NY  
**

"AAARRRGGGGHHHH!"

*ARE YOU DONE WIELDER? WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE DESIGNATED DESTINATION.*

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me you could fly?" Faith yelled at the spear.

"Is she arguing with the spear again?" Hawkeye asked Bobbi.

"Maybe. But more likely she finally cracked and gone loopy." Faith gave her sister slayer the evil eye. If she had time she'd slap the bitch down a peg or two. But for now she had more important things to do.

"What else can you do?" she asked.

*DO YOU HAVE THE TIME?*

She thought about it. She really didn't, but she and the spear were going to have a 'Slayer to Spear' talk.

"Man Thor is really lighting them bastards up." Clint was admiring the destruction Thor was capable of.

"Not now Clint. Get back to work." Bobbi went back to covering Clint and now it appeared she had to cover Faith as well. She pulled back another arrow and let loose. She had grabbed a half a dozen of Clint's quivers, and his spare bow. She was somewhat familiar with the load he usually used for all out combat.

Faith ignored the couple and went back to her job at hand. "Alright you shiny bastard. Gimme all ya have."

*YOU CANNOT HANDLE ALL I HAVE!* was the spear's smug reply.

"Enough with the back talk. Gimme!" she demanded.

The spearhead glowed and Faith took aim. She let loose a blast that did quite a bit of damage, but nowhere on the same scale as the Thunderer. She looked at the damage Thor was doing and her slayer senses noticed that while a few dragonfish were destroyed others were limping. She waited for the next charge and aimed for the wounded behemoth. This time she had the results she was looking for. The dragonfish dropped out of the sky taking down everyone on board with it.

**Manhattan, N.Y.**  
**Stark Tower, Roof**

Faith aimed the spear at the yet another wounded dragon-fish that Thor injured with his lightning barrage. She took the shot. The dragon-fish took the hit where Thor's lightning damaged it. She then saw Thor fly off his perch and come crashing down beside the Hulk on top of another dragon-fish, "Where the fuck is Thor going?" she didn't expect an answer and was surprised when the spear answered.

*THE PRINCE RAN OUT OF ENERGY! HE WILL NEED TIME TO RECHARGE!*

"How would you know?" she shot at another target; the shot took out the the last wounded creature. "How do I slow them down now?"

*A DOUBLE ENERGY CHARGE THROUGH THE EYES INTO THE BRAIN! WAIT UNTIL THEY EMERGE FROM THE PORTAL TO TAKE THE SHOT! YOU APPEAR COMPETENT ENOUGH FOR THAT!"

"Are you freaking insulting me?" Faith was seriously considering ditching the nosy phallic symbol down the nearest sewer.

The spear was clearly not happy either. *YOU ARE CLEARLY INSANE! OBVIOUS CORRECTIVE MEASURES WILL BE TAKEN! SCANNING...SECONDARY WIELDER IN RANGE OF COSMIC ETHERNET! UPGRADING WIELDERS TO MOST BASIC STANDARDS! PROCESSING...*

"What the hell are you up to? You gleaming pain in the ass!"

*CANNOT EDUCATE THE PRIMARY WIELDER AT THIS TIME! LEAVE A MESSAGE!*

Faith felt a jolt of energy go through her, from the top of her head to the bottom of her tippy toes. She started to swear at the top of her lungs, but she directed her anger at the enemy, for now.

Clint took note of what Bobbi's co-worker was saying and filed it for later use. 'That's good stuff. Hope I can remember even half of that shit.'

Manhattan, N.Y.

Bruce jumped from one target to another, crushing each as he made his way through the invaders to the top of the building. He saw a dragon-fish carrier that slipped through the net of destruction that was Thor and the lovely Faith.

He jumped off the roof; behind he left cracks in the re-enforced concrete. He landed on top of the enemy's carrier i. e.: the dragon-fish, and proceeded to pound the crap out of the troops. 'This is exhilarating,' he thought as he smashed the aliens left and right.

Thor landed on his dragon-fish and proceeded to take charge of mopping up, as if someone put him in charge. He tore a piece of armor and plunged it into the neck area. An alien trooper shot him and he turned to deal with him. Thor pounded the improvised dagger deep into the wound, mortally injuring the creature. The two heroes rode the dragon-fish down to the ground as it went through its last remaining seconds of life.

Thor was still giving him the odd piece of advice on how best to deal with the enemy. 'Didn't he say that his people never even heard of the Chitauri?'

He left the smashed landing site and went after more strong positions to smash.

Thor tagged along, but Bruce kept jumping from place to place haphazardly laying waste to whatever came to hand, just from sheer annoyance. The enemy didn't like that and tried to deal with him. They cornered him in an empty theater of some sort and proceeded to pelt him with their energy weapons. They didn't hurt, but they stung, and his body regenerated the minuscule amount of damage as fast as it was dealt.

However it looked like they wanted to put an end to his obstructionist ways and gathered a force to deal with him specifically, and not that prima donna Thor.

'They can fly, I can't. However they are all in a stationary position. What I need is some way to swat them out of the sky, like bugs with a flyswatter. Hmm, maybe a little force and a bit of pressure would do the trick. Damn, they are pesky. Just like a bunch of mosquitoes. Pressure...yeah that might work. Let's see the force needed would have to equal...' while Bruce continued to work out the physics needed in his head the hover fighter squadron continued to pour on enough energy to turn the ground around Bruce's feet plasma red.

'Let's see...the force needed to generate a pressure wave strong enough to take these guys out would need...' Bruce did all the calculations in his head, and when he was sure he had the numbers right. He clapped his hands several times. He was going for overkill. 'Nothing wrong with a little overkill.'

"Aaaaaarrggggghhhhhhh!"

"Aaaaaarrggggghhhhhhh!"

The two matched screams of agony came from above and below. He knew that the one below was Xander. He didn't know how? He just knew.

He looked in the direction of the scream that came from above and saw Faith. He lost it. Someone was hurting his mate.

"NO!" he screamed and jumped towards his mate his rational mind went someplace else and a more savage Hulk took his place. He jumped and hoped his way towards the one who would dare hurt his mate.

When he cleared the skyline he saw Faith on her knees and Loki closing in.

Manhattan, N.Y.  
Stark Tower, Plaza

Xander whirled and dodged all the while firing g the never-empty Uzi. 'Gotta make sure the magic monkeys make more of these for the girls. They're worth their weight in diamonds.'

"Speaking of girls..."

"Shut the fuck up Xander. Or my stake will never see sunshine again!" Graham and his boys came running. Cap started with the giving of the orders.

Xander gave the unhappy giant a smart assed grin. "Gotta be me, didn't know you swung that way big guy?"

"My stake doesn't care who the asshole is Xander, if you mouth off in front of my guys...all I'm promising is a lot of wooden pain with splinters. I don't believe in sanding!" he gave Xander an evil grin.

"Graham that sunny disposition of yours is just precious. Never let it be said you have a sense of humor."

"Don't you mean, that I have a sense of humor."

"Nope...hold on..."

Graham saw an enemy craft orbiting around Xander and trying to take him out. He swung his phase 2 rifle and took out the particularly irritating hover fighter that was making a nuisance of it self.

"Go on..." he waved for Xander to continue, "... Dig your grave a little deeper."

Th two kept needling each other as they kept a steady stream of fire going to give Graham's men the time needed to setup their equipment.

Xander just kept firing in random directions every now and then, but what freaked Graham was that every shot hit something. "Okay enough! How the hell are you doing that?

"Don't know. It started just after we left, but didn't become this developed until after we left the transport. W word I knew how it happened?"

*SECONDARY WIELDED IS PART OF COSMIC ETHERNET. SECONDARY WIELDER IS SATURATING THE AREA AROUND HIM WITH A LOW LEVEL COSMIC FIELD THAT GIVES SECONDARY WIELDER AWARENESS OF EVERYTHING IN THAT FIELD! FIELDS OF PRIMARY AND SECONDARY WIELDERS ARE COMPATIBLE AND WILL EXTEND THE AWARENESS OF BOTH UNITS!*

'You mean that is Faith I've been feeling all this time?' Xander had more experience with the weird ass shit than Faith and knew better than to talk out loud where people could take it the wrong way. A lot of them already thought that he was certifiable. No need to give them more evidence for the men in the white coats and straight jackets. He felt another tiny jolt go through his body. He had been ignoring them for a while, but he was starting to get suspicious. 'What are you doing?'

*PRIMARY AND SECONDARY WIELDER NEED TO BE BROUGHT UP TO BASIC STANDARDS TO SAFELY OPERATE THIS UNIT! GENETIC CORRECTIVE MEASURES COMPLETE!*

Xander screamed at the top of his lungs, and so did Faith. It hurt like hell, but then he was used to that, and so was Faith.

"Shit! Cover him!" Graham grabbed Xander and passed him to his team's medic. "If this is another of your lame ass jokes Xan...it's not funny, just like the rest of your material." Xander didn't reply. He just lay moaning under the shield.

"What happened?" Steve and Phil looked concerned, Xander went down for no apparent reason. They hoped it wasn't due to an after effect from that spell that Willow did on the carrier, but Steve had the Red Witch's assurance that they were all fine. Better than fine. He could still remember her exact words. "Everyone pay attention to any more incidents. If someone else goes down the same way I want to know about it right away. Got it?"

"Got it Captain!" Graham saw a large green figure streak overhead.

Steve saw it as well. The Hulk just landed on top of Stark Tower.

"Ooh. What hit me? Did anyone get the number of the runaway rune weapon that just fucked me over..." Xander looked up to the sky and focused on the fight between Faith and Loki. He saw Faith was a little wobbly but getting steady fast. Just like him in fact. 'When this is over spear...' he promised it that there would be reckoning.  
...


	13. Chapter 13

**Yet More Friends are called in...**

**SHIELD HELICARRIER**

* * *

"Sir, we've received another request for ammunition and reinforcement from all deployed commanders." Maria waited for Fury to look up from the screen he was glued to.

"Have the marines been issued the phase 2 weapons?"

"Yes, sir. All heavy weapons specialists have been armed. The rest went to the Special Forces units."

"Then give the word, Hill. Send in the marines."

Maria Hill saluted and sent the order from her command pad.

As soon as the command was given Fury saw the SHIELD Transports lifting off. The marines have been ready for a while. Everyone on the Hellicarrier was ready.

"Move us up, Hill, and send in all fighter wings as escort. I'm not letting my men get shot up before they have a chance to shoot back."

Maria sent another order. Everyone on the ship was ready to deploy at a moment's notice. The problem had been keeping them reined in.

**  
Manhattan N.Y.  
Top of Stark Tower**

* * *

Faith felt a jolt of energy go through her entire body, "What the hell did you do to me, you stupid over grown toothpick?"

*PRIMARY AND SECONDARY WIELDERS HAVE BEEN UPGRADED TO BASIC ACCEPTABLE UNITS!*

"What the hell did you do? And speak fucking English, you metal retard!" Faith was not a happy slayer. She did not need distractions at a time like this.

*PRIMARY WIELDER DOES NOT HAVE THE TIME FOR THIS DISCUSSION!*

"Don't you fucking tell me when I can or can't talk?"

"Hon..." Clint shot Loki with one of his special arrows. "...is your friend okay?"

Loki caught the arrow and smirked at the foolish mortal that would dare...

The arrow exploded and flung the Asgardian to the other end of the roof. He looked a little singed.

*PREVIOUS WIELDER HAS ARRIVED! HE WILL TRY AND RE-ACQUIRE THIS UNIT!*

"We're not done with this conversation..."'she charged Loki with her best speed which, she noticed that she was even faster than usual. She kicked the space nut in the nuts as he was getting up, with her steel toed construction boots. His eyes bugged out, and while he was still down she used the spear like a club and smashed him right through the roof.

"Nah. I think she and her new gentleman friend are just having a lovers spat."

"Shut the fuck up, Bobbi! I'm not in the mood for your fucking mouth!"

The Hulk landed on the roof with a loud thud. The roof held. Stark built his shit to last. They had to survive Iron Man's shit after all. He saw Loki through the hole. With a roar he smashed his way through the hole and punched the dazed god-ling. Loki had had just about enough of these disrespectful creatures. "That's enough, you dull creature," he shouted angrily, trying to intimidate the roaring engine of destruction.

The Hulk stopped puzzled. He wondered what was so important that the idiot just had to stop to stomp romp.

"I am a 'God'! And I will not be manhandled by the likes of you.

That's it! That the best he could come up with? Oh No! He jumped and grabbed the soon to be paste imitator and began to be beat him to a bloody pulp. He used him like a club and tried to see if he could break through the floor to the other side, or see if Loki would just become a smear and meld with the floor.

He wasn't impressed by the pompous smear. "Kinda puny for a god!" He walked off, stepping on where the family jewels would be. Loki didn't feel a thing. Now, later...

He jumped through the hole back up to the Slayers and Archer.

He landed near Faith. "Mate is okay?" he asked examining Faith carefully.

Faith gave the Hulk a huge smile. She looked down the hole and at noticed the smear. "Did you do that for me, big boy?" she asked using her best sultry voice.

"YES! YOU ARE MATE!" the Hulk declared.

"Really? How do you figure?"

"BOTH SLAYERS ARE PART OF PACK! MATES. SLAYER BOBBI HAS CHOSEN PACK BROTHER CLINT. SLAYER FAITH IS THE ONE THAT HAS BEEN TEASING HULK. YOU HAVE CHOSEN HULK. HULK ACCEPTED."

"Why didn't you go after Dawn?"

"SHE FEELS LIKE THE GREEN MOTHER. PEACE. YOU ARE THE HUNTRESS. EXCITEMENT. YOU HAVE WILLINGLY CHOSEN THE HULK. I ACCEPT."

"Just for that you deserve a reward." She jumped at the huge green man and grabbed a handful of hair, wrapped her legs around him. She took his chin with her other hand and proceeded to kiss him like he's never been kissed before. The kiss went on and Bobbi and Clint had to shoot a few hover fighters while the two were distracted. Not that either would have noticed a few shots. Not even Faith, now that the spear was done playing around with her genetics.

The Hulk slowly shrunk back to Bruce Banner. Faith kept the kiss going for another minute.

"Damn! She melted him!" Clint admired good technique where he saw it. "Say Bobbi...when we're done here and assuming we're still alive..."

Bobbi smirked, "Sure. If you're a good boy?"

"Define good?" He shot another arrow and saw it explode in the middle of a new group of descending hover fighters.

Faith broke the kiss and looked at her kissing partner speculatively, "Is this melting thing you do gonna be a habit?"

"I'll build up my tolerance. Promise!"

"Good answer!" Clint clapped.

"There's a reason he's the 3rd smartest man on the planet." Bobbi smiled as she said it. She was happy for her sister slayer. Although how Banner was going to fit into the dynamic that was Xander, Faith and Dawn…

"You'd better. Something tells me that I'll be needing a more durable man in my life and Dawn's kinda greedy with Xander. How do you feel about being on the bottom of that dynamic?"

"There she goes again with the big words." Bobbi told Clint with a smirk.

"BOBBI..." Faith gave her a look that promised a lot of pain in the future.

**Manhattan N.Y.  
39th Street.**

* * *

The elite SHIELD marine force was jumping out of the transports. The pilots didn't even need to land to drop them off. Only the ammunition carriers landed, unloaded their ordinance and heavy weapons, and took off as fast as possible. After a couple were shot down they learned to land a few streets back and move their equipment through the subway tunnels.

On their way to the front one of the marine units met a group of heavily armed girls and one black man wearing shades. In the tunnels. "Move it, ya bunch'a Jarheads!" Rona yelled at the marines blocking her path.

"Girl, stop yelling at the marines, they're just doing their job."

"You stay outta this Blade. Just 'cause we're dating don't mean you can tell me what to do!"

The marine Captain looked at the heavily armed unit and frowned. 'At least they're riding their bikes towards the fight, and not running away like the last group. Good looking group. Wonder what unit they belong to? Models R' Us? Although if they're all like that chick, I wouldn't be caught dead dating any of them.'

"Ma'am, you cannot be here. You must go back the way you came from."

"Look here Captain Jarhead. You have your orders, and I have mine. And Mine trumps yours. Xander says get to the Stark Tower and to bring the kitchen sink, we get and in our hurry we left the sink. The man will not be happy. You understand what I'm sayin'?"

"My name's Captain Robins. Ma'am. This Xander person...is he your commanding officer?"

"Who Xander? He wishes, just like my man Blade here wishes. Nah, my commanding officer is Buffy. But Buffy and Xander are like tight yo'. So when Xander says git, we git. He be inner circle. Sides, this shit should a been cleared with that Nicky fella'. Why we even having this conversation?"

"Nicky?"

"Ya know...Nicky. Nicky Funky, or something like that."

"I swear the more you talk to Summers the more brain cells you lose. The one thing you should not be picking up is her ability to mangle names. Marine, get on you comm, and talk to Fury. We're expected.

Captain Robins gave the man a thankful look. If these guys had a pass from Fury, then they had a pass from Fury. He was however checking in to make sure. "Thank you mister..."

"Blade."

Captain Robins confirmed that he was to let the heavily armed models through. Commander Hill for some reason was not surprised when he described them as 'Heavily Armed Models', he didn't know what was going on, but their pass came from the top.

He waved them through.

Blade gave him a nod of thanks, the girls didn't even look back. He did however send a squad after them. Never know they might need ammo at the Tower.


	14. Chapter 14

****

Manhattan, N.Y.

Parking Rooftop.  


* * *

****

Punisher War Journal

May, 04/2012  


* * *

_The freaks and independent players are out in force. Most of the regular targets are getting a pass for today._

Anyone willing to risk his neck was safe from his wrath for another day. Today he was devoting the focus of his war to a new enemy. An enemy responsible for the countless death and destruction on the streets of the city.

This was open warfare. Pure and simple. It may not be the same war he was trained for, or the war he currently waged against the crime syndicates of New York's five boroughs, but war just the same.

Families were slaughtered today. Fathers. Mothers. Alone, together or vacationers along with their entire families taking the kids to see the country.

Fathers and mothers would not be coming home to their families tonight. The rush hour crowd, those too slow and the street vendors were the first to die.

I will avenge as many of them as I can today. 

Frank Castle took aim with .50 caliber sniper rifle from inside his van. He saw Spiderman in his sights. Behind the red and blue clad clown one of the hover fighters was about to fire on one of the adventures. He took a breath, let it go, and fired.

As expected Spiderman again performed his magic trick and dodged the bullet with someone else's name on it.

The alien invader's head exploded. The hover fighter crashed into the street below. Spiderman glanced in Frank's direction, but ignored him to pursue the greater evil.

He had no problem with the do-gooder. He did his part keeping the city clean. He just did not agree with his wishy-washy methods.

Besides he was about a mile away from the main battle. Most of the enemy was airborne and he had no difficulty finding viable targets. The environment was rich and the Hand, along with the heroes, were playing for keeps. He didn't have to worry about tracking down the ones that got away.

A small alarm got his attention. It was the new radar he managed to salvage from a SHIELD vehicle.

He looked outside, and was just in time to see Moon-Knight make an appearance. He had seen the white clad adventurer around and about. He was a dangerous man. He used the latest military hardware hand-in-hand with ancient Egyptian weapons.

Moon-Knight had jumped from a silent crescent shaped vehicle. Probably an advanced helicopter of some type.

He made a note to upgrade the dangerous man's threat level. He had seen him perform at superhuman levels, along with his standard weapons made him a viable threat.

This was another level of dangerous. It spoke of depth and resources. It took money and organization to field that kind of specialized gunship in an urban environment.

He turned up the sensors to the maximum and tried to see if there was any chatter. He got lucky. He heard a heavily shielded transmission that could only be the Moon-Knight talking with the pilot.

"Frenchie, I'm heading towards the heroes. Keep out of the area. There's too many of them for you to get involved. Besides it looks like SHIELD fighters have started to show up in force. Get out of here before they mistake you for a bogie."

The advanced VTOL fired half a dozen missiles and retreated. "Oui, Mark. C'est vari. Bon chance, mon ami."

"You too, Frenchie. You too." Moon-Knight headed towards the big fight without giving the black van below a second glance.

"Hmm. Mark..." he didn't think it was the Knight's real name, but he didn't discount it either. If he had to go against the man he has best be prepared. The man was a soldier and he knew his business.

One of the big flying eel type fish troop carriers had wandered off. He considered using one of his stingers on it, but after thinking it over he reconsidered.

He saw a giant girl go after the monster with some sort of battle staff. It had a flaming green energy spike or blade on one end.

The girl charged the alien fish and jammed the energy charged end into the creature's vulnerable eye.

Frank admired her technique. The girl was obviously a trained and smart fighter. She didn't hesitate and she knew where to strike.

She pinned the fish in place and held it until it crashed into the ground. The troopers she ignored, but the charging SHIELD marine squad that was backing her up didn't. They went after the alien invaders without hesitation. They were using new energy type weapons he hadn't seen before. He had heard rumors about something similar from several old timers who fought in WWII. They said something about a secret Nazi organization and Captain America. From the evidence before him it looked like the rumors were true.

Coming Together...

**  
Manhattan, N.Y.  
An Eerie building in the Village with a mystical symbol on the top floor circular window. **

* * *

Dr. Stephen Strange, the Master of the Mystic arts, looked at the growing chaos and sighed heavily. He knew there was no avoiding it. While the threat was not mystical in origin, the destruction and mounting death was very real. He sighed heavily and called the Cloak of Levitation to his outstretched hand. The donned the magical artifact and made his way out of the circular, mystical portal at the top of his house. "I will be late, Wong. Don't wait up, old friend."

"May the Vishanti guide your path, Master." Wong bowed as his master and friend departed.

Stephen Strange cast an invisibility spell to avoid drawing the attention of his neighbors.

He flew towards the growing fight. He saw a few familiar faces, Spiderman, Daredevil, Luke Cage and Daniel Rand, Misty Knight and her partner Colleen Wing, and many others.

One was in trouble. 'Electra I think. That Hand fellow's up to no good.'

He cast a quick bolt of energy that worked best against the undead. He was rewarded with the ninja going up in smoke. When he had the time he would deal with the necromancer responsible.

He felt a strong presence behind him. When he turned around he was face to face with an attractive, but giant young woman.

The woman stared back. He checked his invisibility spell and it still held.

"WHATEVER." Dawn wasn't impressed. "THAT'S JUST SO MARCIE." She sniffed and went back to swatting hover fighters left and right. Thor and Faith had thinned the herd of transports enough so she concentrated on the rest of the aliens. Her mystic shield dealt with their energy weapons and a hit was usually enough to deal with them.

'That was Dawn Summers, and she saw me.' He cast several other spells to hide him, but once again when she was done she noticed his effort to hide in plain sight.

Dawn narrowed her eyes and looked in his direction once more, "SERIOUSLY..."

Dr. Strange felt icy shivers go down his spine. 'That girl has some serious training. I guess the rumors are true...she trains with the Red Witch. But they didn't mention anything about her being the key. I'd better inform the Ancient One. What a peculiar turn of events. Just when you stop looking for something it shows up on its own. Although dealing with the Red Witch will not be pleasant.'

Dr. Strange let the Key go her way and went back to his original plan of helping out the heroes. He knew where to find her when the time came.

**  
Manhattan, N.Y.  
West of Stark Plaza. **

* * *

The battle with the independent heroes of N. Y. had moved from midtown to just west of Stark's new Tower. Peter was running low on webbing and had a couple of cartridges left on his belt. He was getting some great action shots, but he had taken a beating for them. He was a fast healer, but he needed to give his body a chance to heal first. Gramps was on another berserker-rage bender and there was no reasoning with him, as he found out. The bruises still ached from the punch that landed. He counted himself lucky it was just a punch. What that man did to the aliens on the ground was just pure ugly. His senses tingled again. He felt some take a bead on his head yet again. And yet again the hover fighter in front of him went down, with its pilot's head blown off. 'Gotta be Castle. He's the only one sick enough to play these games if his. He's trying to see if my spider-sense has a limit. But what happens when I hit that limit? Not like you can call a bullet back .' He fired another web line and swung to the east side of the Tower. The scene there was even worse than the one he just left. "Can't be...that's Captain America. Man will you look at all the bodies here." He saw Iron Man, Captain America, some guy with an eye patch that wasn't Fury and white, but other than that they were pirate twins. 'He he. Gotta remember to use that the next time Fury drops by to annoy me.'

Several girls with Blade among them were around the guy. "Whoa. If his troops are all like that, where do I sign up?" He shot a line at a passing hover fighter, and made sure he was anchored this time, the last time he was dragged behind one of those things like that time with Osborne and his Goblin Glider.

He gave the fighter a tug and held it in place. He started to swing it around like a soap-on-a-rope and then aimed it at a group of incoming aliens. The crash was both spectacular and well worth the effort. 'This should do for an intro...'

"Hello, ladies and grouchy. Name's Man, Spider Man. Do you come here often?"

"Ha ha ha. He's funny, Rona. Can we keep him?" Julie asked the lead slayer.

"The hell you doing here, bug?" Blade was not in the mood for the funny man routine.

"Well, Mr. Grouchy, look at me I'm a bad ass vampire hunter, if you can't tell then you're too old for me to explain it to you properly. You'd just forget half way through the conversation."

"Ooh zing. Sure, Julie, you can keep him. But only if the rest of his material stands up to the Scooby test." Xander laughed for the first time since this battle started.

"Ah. A lover of the classics I see. Anyone who loves the great Scooby Doo is someone I don't mind hanging with. Say, you remind me of someone... You could almost be twins if he wasn't black and has that evil streak..."

"HA! See, Cap, I told you. An 'Evil brother from another mother.' Didn't I say that, Phil, or what?"

"The Director wasn't amused Xander. I had to choke on my own laughter damn you."

"You shouldn't beard the lion in his own den like that, Xander. You never know when it'll bite back."

"Ya, you know Fury."

"I know Fury."


	15. Chapter 15

**Manhattan, N.Y.  
Stark Tower Plaza**

* * *

"...and not only that, but your mother probably wears combat boots."

Xander briefly glanced in Peter's direction, "Yeah, you're probably right. Mom was a marine nurse before she became a drunk." He spun and deflected an energy beam with the black sword.

He took two steps the right avoiding more energy blasts without even looking.

"You're just like my friend. He has the same fighting style. He doesn't look where he punches or when he throws his billy-club. I know how he does it, but what's your story?"

Peter jumped over another accidental glomp by the slayer, Julie. She'd been eyeing him like a piece of meat for a while now. She was attractive enough, but no way was she over sixteen. She also kept trying to cop a feel. But what sunk the deal for him were the evil looks Xander sent his way. He didn't look like a father figure, but you could never tell with the super set.

"Apparently it's this whole new cosmic awareness that I just had shoved into my skull." Xander side stepped Julie as she tried to flirt with Spiderman yet again. Xander sent Spidey a weak glare of death that he'd give the guys who hanged around his girls, which he approved of. 'Sounds like a good kid; got his Pun-Fu down pat. He also has this I'm a human with a little extra vibe going for him.

"So Spidey... Can I call you Spidey? Anyway, I always thought that you were kinda cool and all. Is there like a Mrs. Spidey? It's cool if there is and all, but if not I thought we could, ya know..."

"I'm sorry, Julie, but kinda busy at moment." Peter used his webbing to create a giant tennis racket and swatted at the group of hover fighters that were on his ass. The girl, Julie, didn't even look like she was paying attention, but then again she was stepping between the energy blasts with the same ease as her over-protective whatever and the other girls she was with. He didn't know models were this talented. The girls M.J. hanged around with certainly weren't.

"Wow. That's just cool how you can create just about everything with your webs and stuff. Are they like magic of something? 'Cause that would be seriously cool..."

"Say, Julie, why is Xander looking at me like that?"

"Aw don't worry about him. Xander's a big softie. Us girls have him tied around our little fingers, but we'd never take advantage of that. He's too sweet, and it wouldn't feel right to do that...also Faith and Dawn would seriously kick our asses if we did, and don't get me started on what Willow or Buffy would do."

"Yeah, that's cool and all, but it still doesn't explain why he's all grr and all. And does he even know any guys? 'Cause let me tell you so far all I've heard about are the girls."

"I'm sure you're just imagining it. As for the guys, there's Mr. Giles, but he's seriously old. Come on let's just ask him about the looks." Julie did a quadruple somersault and close to a two story jump and landed right next to Xander. "Xander! Will you just quit with the death glance every time I try talking to Spidey. Seriously the guy is like all sensitive and stuff and can tell when you turn to Grr-Xander. I haven't like had a date in a week, so quit it already."

"Jules, I'm innocent I tell you. He's just imagining it is all." Xander sent a glare in Spiderman's direction.

Peter felt it even with his back turned. "Would you just quit it? You're fucking up my spider-sense."

"Your spider what? The hell you talking about, Willis?"

"I'm talk about the glances of death you send my way every time she's near. What is she to you? Your daughter or something?"

"Ward." Xander kept his answer shot while he was pressed from several directions.

"Ward as in Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson, or June and Ward Cleaver?"

"Bruce and Dick, and you do get major points for your trivia skill in alluding to the 'Leave it to Beaver, Batman' connection. When we have the time you should come over for a free for all trivia smack down."

"Sounds intriguing, but with there be a smack down during or after he trivia contest?"

"During. Otherwise it would defeat the purpose of the smack down."

"Ah! Got it. You're insane with a side of mad." Peter avoided a sword smack from Xander, but he could tell the other quipster didn't mean it.

"The hell is that?" Xander asked in surprise.

Peter looked and saw gramps and the guys decided to bring the other party over. "That's my gramps...just found out... Not sure if it's true or not, but my Spidey sense hasn't freaked out on me yet, so yeah..."

"You're Howlett's grand kid? You have my condolences. Hey Cap!" Xander got Steve's attention. "Look who decided to join the party."

"Is that Lucky Jim?"

"Sure looks like. And get this, Spidey here's admits to being related."

"Hey I said maybe, and could I just say, Mr. Captain America, sir, I am a big fan."

"Thanks, son. You're doing your grandfather proud. Let's keep at 'em."

"Yeah I think we've got these guys contained. Time to deal with the portal." Xander pointed up at the rip in space.

"Right. Any ideas?"

"Yeah, a couple actually."

Logan made his way to Peter, Cap and Xander. "Cap? Is that you?"

"Jimmy? How the hell are you even still alive?"

"I know you?" Logan sniffed the air and narrowed down the scents. Cap was Cap. How that was, he didn't know, but he smelled of Fury, so there was a clue, so did the kid with the sword, for that matter, he also smelled like a Harris. "You a Harris?"

"Yeah. That nose of yours. You and your brother, say where's the party killer at anyway? Sure could use him just about now."

"Not sure what you're talking about?"

"Ya know. Your brother Creed, he of the Growly persuasion."

"Yeah Creed would be an asset at this." Cap nodded.

"How the hell do you know all this, kid? You look and smell like a Harris, but you ain't the Harris."

"Yeah gramps is floating around somewhere bless his paranoid soul. But a chaos mage did this spell once and I would up with a set of gramps memories, got all kinds of shit about Cap, you and WW II." all the while he was talking Xander had put away his weapons and just dodged the occasional shot from the alien horde. He has his phone out and was texting like mad.

"Dude there's no reception. All the towers are down." Peter told him.

Xander only smirked and put his phone away. They all heard a chip beep come from the giant girl. They saw her take out her phone and glance at the screen. She turned around looked at Xander and nodded her head. She walked towards them and shrunk down to her normal height on the way over. "I was wondering when you were going to get serious."

She looked at the strangers around her boyfriend, but shrugged it off. She has learned to trust his instincts about people over the years.

Xander smirked. "Had to make sure the lizards didn't slip into the woodworks first. Can you imagine the havoc they'd create if they hooked up with our normal brand of crazy?"

"Ah." Dawn could indeed imagine. "You want to bring everyone?"

Xander thought about it for a moment and nodded his head. "Phil. Take over. All yours Dawn. "

"Dawn, can I come with?" Julie asked making with the puppy eyes at Xander.

Xander gave his permission and Dawn shrugged.

"Yay!" Julie jumped up and down and while Peter was mesmerized by her talents she glomped him successfully this time.

Dawn giggled at Julie's antics. 'Ah, to be sixteen and hormonally driven.' She raised her hands and they glowed briefly. A jade energy dome covered the party. The glow intensified and then the globe disappeared taking everyone with it. They appeared on the rooftop of Tony Stark's building.

****

Manhattan, N.Y.  
Stark Tower, Rooftop Landing Pad.

* * *

Sam Finn led the two SHIELD super soldiers back to the HQ Transport. They had Loki on a stretcher. "Hon, did you remember to pack the restraint system Willow gave us for our last anniversary?"

Riley looked at his wife and raised one eyebrow. "Why?" his chin pointed to the group behind his wife.

"I'm thinking it's just what the witch doctor ordered. This piece of crap is starting to twitch. I guess Asgardians are built tough."

"I'll have a look." Riley smiled. Sam was the paranoid one in the family. Bless her soul, that paranoia had saved their bacon time and again. He found the pink manacles and handed them over.

Sgt. Brian Campbell raised an eyebrow, ""Pink?" he didn't bat an eye that they were packing manacles. Very little about the Finns surprised him anymore. This was one of them.

"Don't ask Sgt. you'll sleep better not knowing." Sam took the manacles and shackled the twitching god while he was still unconscious. "How about a muzzle?"

"I didn't bring the ball gag. Sorry honey, I didn't think we'd need one for an alien invasion." Riley should have known better. They usually brought with them at least one set for the odd magic user they had to deal with.

"The Widow about done with the professor?" Sgt. Campbell pointed at the deadly assassin and the recovering SHIELD scientist.

"I think so. They've been talking quietly for a while, and it looks like agent Romanov is just about done."

A green glow from the top of the tower captured their attention. "Looks like Dawn's up at bat next. Hope they can get that portal closed." Sam looked at the new additions and raised both of her eyebrows. "That's some party. Lots of colorful costumes..."

"You never know. If Xander brought them along he obviously has a use for them." Riley explained.

Sam sighed. She hoped so. The insane intensity was ramping up, and not down. Something has to give and hopefully it was the aliens and not them.

"Let's go. The good doctor built a way to shut it down. And your friend Faith has the key..." she looked puzzled at the Finns when Colonel Finn blushed a deep shade of crimson. "Anything to add?"

"It's not really pertinent to this discussion or situation agent." Riley tried to bluff the Black Widow, but Natasha wasn't budging.

Sam smirked at her husband's discomfort. "Aw come on Sam. You know it has nothing to do with this situation."

"Colonel we're on the clock I don't have time for this guessing game." Natasha really didn't have the time, but you never knew what information could become critical.

"While stationed in Sunnydale Faith switched bodies with the other slayer. My girlfriend Buffy and she sorta took me to bed and rode me into the ground..."

Natasha raised her hand. "You're right it's not pertinent, maybe? Sorry I asked." this was time she lost and would never recover.


	16. Chapter 16

**Who Turned up the Heat...**

****

SHIELD HELICARRIER  
200 Miles Offshore.  


* * *

"You can't be serious. What you're planning to do would not only destroy the island of Manhattan, but it would also cripple SHIELD. My men are deployed all over that island. Trying and succeeding in containing an alien invasion."

"Succeeding for now, Directory Fury." The old republic was a Hawk of the first order. Fury himself was considered pretty bad ass in that department himself, but this man was on a whole other level.

"You have to give my men the chance to complete their mission. There are over sixty super soldiers who for the first time can truly lay claim to that title. As well as two battalions of Elite Marines..."

"Then by all means withdraw the super soldier squads. We are quite happy with the results thus far. And some of the Marines would survive if you start withdrawing them across the bridges."

"Withdrawing those men now would leave Manhattan at the mercy of the aliens, who up to now have shown none."

"Director Fury, this argument is futile. This is not a debate. You have your orders, carry them out, or we will put someone else in your position who will do as he's told." The old war hawk disconnected with a look of disgust on his face. He really thought that Fury was their man, but evidence was starting to pile up that have shown that he was either running his own show without supervision, or someone else has taken control of the man. Maybe Ross would make a better Director. Now that Banner was no longer a mindless beast it should be an easy matter to buy his services. Maybe a lab somewhere, he could even create more Hulk men. A lot less expensive than nuclear weapons, or this phase 2 crap.

Fury watched as the screens flickered off one by one. 'Damn if I'm letting a bunch of old REMFs who have been behind their desks for so long they've forgotten what we're fighting for kill my men and destroy an American City out of fear.'

"Hill..."

"Sir."

"Time we finished this cluster fuck. What's the status of Loki?"

"Prisoner of Colonel Finn, under guard and still unconscious. The Hulk laid a royal beating on his ass."

"Dr. Selvig?"

"Agent Romanov managed to get him conscious, and talking. Only a matter of time before we have the information we need to close the portal."

"Time we don't have." Fury angrily left the Council communications center and went back to the bridge. A thousand options were considered and rejected with lighting speed as his brain tried to come up with a solution that would save most if not all his men.

**Fighter Taking Off from,  
SHIELD HELICARRIER**

* * *

"Director Fury is no longer in command. Override order 7 Alpha 11." an anonymous female spoke into the pilot's ear.

"7 alpha 11 confirmed," the pilot replied.

"Sir, we have a rouge bird in motion. Repeat, we have a rouge bird. Take off is not authorized." Hill scrambled to abort the fighter bomber's take off.

Fury raced out of the bridge at a run he made it to the deck with a hand held missile launcher. He took aim and fired. The fighter crashed and almost went over the edge.

Another aircraft took off from the other runway while he was busy with the first craft. It flew outside the range of his side arm. He had one more option left.

"Stark! You hear me? We have a missile heading straight for the city."

"How long?"

"Sixty seconds. Payload will wipe out midtown."

"I'm on it."

The pilot released the missile. "Missile released. Detonation in forty five seconds." He pulled back on the stick and turned on the afterburners getting the hell out of Dodge.

**  
Manhattan, N.Y.  
Stark Tower, Rooftop.**

* * *

Natasha with the help of Colonel Finn and his men were able to get Dr. Selvig to the portal machine. The roof was crowded, but in a good way. The gathered heroes kept the aliens away.

"Faith I need to use the spear." Natasha pointed at the golden weapon.

"No one should need this bastard." she passed the spear without further comment.

*POSSIBLE PRIMARY WIELDER DETECTED!* Gungnir the spear of Odin was not a happy camper. Ever since he had improved his wielders, he had heard nothing but complaints. The two of them had objections to being improved for some reason. He did not think that their objections were valid. He had after all raised them from the humans they were to become compatible with Asgardian technology. He decided that he needed a back up.

The new possible wielder looked promising. She had a very disciplined mind and a born killer. The other two wielders had the killer instinct, but they were both chaos incarnate. This one was ordered death.

*ACQUIRING!* Gungnir had made a decision. Until it was united with Odin it would try to stay with this one as long as possible.

Natasha did not have time for the spear's games. She has a mission to complete.

"Ok Dawn go ahead. Do you think you can close it?"

"I'll try Xander." Dawn's face scrunched as she concentrates on closing the portal.

At first nothing happened, but then slowly it began to shrink. After a few minutes the portal was close a third of its previous size. But Xander could tell that for the last minute the size had stayed the same.

"I can't shrink it any further." her legs collapsed from the effort she used in shrinking the portal. Xander and Faith were on either side of her. They caught her before she hit the roof.

"Take it easy honey. You did what you could." Xander helped Faith lower Dawn to the floor. He whispered assurances into her ear.

"I should have been able to close it." she complained bitterly.

"It's alright honey. Look the big boys can't come through anymore and the rest of the pricks are easy picking. Even Bobbi and her Boytoy can bring them down with arrows."

Bobbi gave Faith the finger, but left it at that for now.

Faith ignored her.

"No you guys don't understand. She was fighting me the whole time. And she had help. That, that thing had given her a boost. I can so kick her ass."

"Who are you talking about Dawnie? There's no one else here that I can detect." Xander redoubled his effort to scan the roof one more time he came up with the same numbers. No way anyone could hide from him again. Not even Marcie at her best.

"Her." she pointed at the Tesseract held in Dr. Selvig's portal generator.

"What? The cube?" asked Peter.

"Yeah the cube. It's nothing more than a cosmic shell for the bitch baby inside."

The cube pulsed.

"Oh shut up. No one wants to hear from you. Why don't you just shut it down already. This is so not a game..."

"Dawn, who are you talking to?" Faith was scanning the roof top and she like Xander was coming up with nothing.

"I think she's arguing with the cosmic cube thing." Peter pointed at the cube.

"Hey are you checking out Faith. I am right here you know." Julie has yet to let go her death grip hug and Peter didn't want to look like a mean jerk by rejecting the girl.

'Oh great. I have a jealous super powered stalker. I don't care how hot she is. M.J. will not understand and I doubt she's into threesomes. Anyway I don't I can survive anymore of Xander's glares and he keeps fingering that shovel thing under his long leather jacket. God why must you always taunt me this way. I do not want to be the butt-monkey. Isn't there someone else you can play with?'

Xander felt a shiver run down his spine. Like someone was watching him and not in a good way. They were never ever were in a good way.

"The Tesseract is alive." explained Dr. Selvig. "She's testing her boundaries. She's been cooped up in tiny enclosed spaces for so long that she 's had enough. She's spreading her wings if you will."

"Doctor how do I shut it down?" Natasha asked all business like. She felt another jolt go through her, but she ignored it until she was done closing this damn machine.

Following Dr. Selvig's instructions carefully she inserted the spear into a receptacle made just for it.

"Ready!" she announced.

"Go ahead Natasha. Let's close this thing down." Steve ordered.

"NO! DON'T!" Tony Stark said in a panicky voice.

Steve held up his hand to stop the Widow. "Why? We need to get thing closed and fast."

"I'm riding a nuclear missile that's about to wipe out the island of Manhattan. And that portal is just what the doctor ordered."

"Are you sure?" Steve asked. He noticed that Natasha was shivering slightly.

"Trust me. I got this." a few seconds later everyone saw Iron Man steak across the sky with a nuclear tipped missile on his back. As he neared his tower he went into a steep climb, parallel to the beam that held the portal open. He went through in seconds. Everyone waited with baited breath. Everyone but Natasha; the spear was about done making the final painful changes to her genetic makeup. Another Human-Asgard hybrid was about to be born. "Steve..."'she pleaded.

"Not yet. Hold on as long as you can. We owe it to him." Steve wasn't clueless. He saw the pressure that Natasha was under, but he would give Stark a few seconds to make it back.

They all waited with baited breath for the playboy billionaire to make it back. As the seconds dragged by, with no results, Steve made the decision. Natasha wasn't going to last. "Shut it down." he told her.

Natasha didn't reply. With shivering and straining muscles she turned off the device.

Xander was the first to detect the armored adventurer as he fell out of the rapidly closing portal.

"There." he pointed.

Steve let out the breath he was holding.

"Why isn't he slowing down?" asked Spider-Man.


	17. Chapter 17

**Manhattan, N.Y.  
Space, Portal above, Stark Tower.  
**

* * *

'It's fucking beautiful.' Very few things in creation could compare. The sun bouncing and playing off of Pepper's hair in the morning after a full night of fun and games. Her face glowing as the beautiful smile of contentment that only dreams of joy and peace can bring. This was good too, in a different way. 'Mental note: Propose to Pepper, and screw Faith.' Tony's mind shutdown after that final thought. He finally reached a limit where the input from so many mental paths overwhelmed his conscious thoughts. A few seconds after, his power armored suit shutdown.

For the first time since the cosmic incident on the SHIELD Hellicarrier his body finally had the chance to fix itself.

As the magnetic containment field that held the shrapnel in his heart steady; failed for the first time. His body's new regenerative ability started the slow process of fixing his heart.

The shrapnel was slowly expelled. It cut its way out and where it went; the heart repaired itself from the self inflicted damage.

Outside his body and suit, Tony was pulled back to the portal by the gravitational pull of the earth through the still open portal.

As he neared the opening it began to shrink. Slowly at first, but more rapidly the smaller it became. At the same time the smaller it became the stronger the pull. At the last second he was sucked through the portal like a small pebble through a straw.

As he fell through the rip in space, it closed behind him. He was the last being to cross the boundary between the dimensions.

He plummeted to earth. The weight of his armor pulled him down even faster.

"He's not slowing down. There's no power and he's out of control." Xander was along with Faith able to see all that without difficulty.

Natasha rose slowly to her feet, she suppressed a groan. After she closed the portal she fell. The changes done to her body by the spear were over. With her new and improved constitution she was recovering rapidly. She tried to let go of the spear, but it wouldn't come off. While she struggled silently to drop the spear; Tony Stark, the Iron Man plummeted to earth. Possibly to his death.

Bruce transformed back to the Hulk and was about to jump and catch one of his new friends before he killed himself on his return from his suicide mission.

Thor twirled the Hammer and was about to launch himself into the air as well. "Webs don't fail me now." Peter put his last web fluid cartridge in his web shooter.

"Stand down gentlemen...Dawn. Could you please fetch our wayward techno-wiz kid?"

"Sure. Xand. No prob." A small green portal opened beneath Tony Stark and swallowed him whole. Another portal appeared on the roof and spit him out but with the velocity and direction going up, instead of down.

Peter's trigger haired reflexes went to work first. Without even thinking about what he was doing he fired a pair of web lines and snagged the billionaire in mid air and reeled him back in. He released the web lines and caught Iron Man, before any of them could react. 'Uh Hun! Oh yeah! I am...that good. Thank you very much ladies and gentleman.' he put Tony down gently. He wasn't moving. "How come he's not moving?" he asked, his head turned slightly in puzzlement.

Thor was the first to kneel down. He ripped the face mask right off.

Tony Stark was still. His face lay unmoving.

"NO!" yelled Bruce. "AAARRRRGGGHHH!" Growled the savage Hulk. The shock was enough to snap Tony awake. His body was still working on repairing the damage left behind, by the expelled shrapnel. It hurt like crazy, but he was alive.

"Aah. What just happened? It feels like someone just ripped out my heart and put it back, only they got it backwards." Tony saw Thor, Steve, Xander, Spider-Man and the Hulk clustered all around him, "Please tell me no one kissed me..."

"You wish..." giggled Faith from behind the Hulk. "...We won, if you're wondering."

"That we did." agreed Steve.

"Yeah, but what the hell did we win?" Peter asked. "I mean have you looked at New York lately?" he gestured in hundred and eighty degree arc to include all the damage the city had suffered during the invasion. "So is this like...it. They come in like soccer hooligans, trash the joint and get their strings cut and drop down for a bit of rest like nothing happened?"  
"That's war kid. Not much you can do about that. Consider yourself lucky to come out alive when the fighting's done."

"You know gramps, I just can't accept that." Peter looked ready to rip into someone. He just didn't know who to go after.

"Aw enough. We won and I know people. People, who can and will do something about this little invasion, from where-ever. I'll promise you this... Whoever did this? Well let's just say his time is coming."

"Uh oh. My spider sense is tingling."

"Maybe you should consider using an ointment for that." Faith giggled, and that set off the rest.

"I am not kidding here..."

"Kid, all you do is kid..." replied Logan.

"Will you guys knock it off? My danger sense has never been wrong, and it has never let me down. When I say there's danger, you can take it to the bank that something is just not kosher in the land of the big apple."

Xander looked around with his senses open. The only thing that he could detect that was out of place was the invisible floating man. He pointed his Uzi at him and said, "I don't know who you are? But you'd better land and drop the invisibility."

"No need for the hostility friend. I will do as you say..." Dr. Stephan Strange landed on the roof of Stark Tower and cancelled the invisibility spell. "...I come in peace."

"Hey, I know him. Xander he's that Marcie wanna be I told you about, but he was like helping out and stuff. I think he's okay?" Dawn still wasn't too sure about the man, but she'd wait until he proved either friend or foe for sure.

"Hey Doc. What's up. Maybe you can convince these guys to take this seriously. My senses say there's a danger here, but I just can't tell what kind. Maybe you can do that mambo jumbo thing that you do." Spidey wiggled his fingers about at Stephen Strange.

"Aw come on Spiderman. Just drop it. In fact let's take the rest of the day off, don't even come in to work tomorrow. I hear there's a Shawarma place nearby. Come on, my treat. I don't know what a Shawarma is, but it sounds like it could be a fun food." Thor helped Tony to his feet. He was feeling better by the minute, and the suit had started the reboot sequence. It would be back online in a matter of seconds.

Xander ignored the by-play. It looked like the guys were bonding, and he's was missing getting in a few puns of his own. "Dr. Strange. I know who you are. What's with all the secrecy?"

"Do you know who, and what she is?" he pointed at Dawn.

"Yes, I do. Do you?" Xander's stance changed in a split second. He went from just being cautious to a full red alert. Faith and Bobbi immediately pick up on that and took their usual back up positions.

"That is the 'KEY!'" he shouted.

"Why don't you say it louder? I don't think they heard you in Jersey." Xander by this time was openly pointing the sub-machine gun at Strange.

Strange calmed down and came in for a slow landing. He ignored the open hostility. "I see you do know the full implication then. What the hell are you thinking taking her into a combat zone like this? She should be in protective custody. You will have to leave her with me. I know how to fully protect her from what's coming..." Strange tried to grab Dawn, but she quickly backed away from him.

"Get away from me you crazy mage. I am not a thing and you so can't just grab anyone you want like that. There are laws you know." Dawn wasn't too worked up about the crazy mage. They came across them all the time. Sure he was more powerful than most, but they could handle them.

"You must come with me. It's for your own safety child. My master and I have been looking for you from the moment you disappeared. He will make sure you are safe and in your proper form again." Strange thought that was a reasonable request to make. After all who would want the Key to the multiverse running around in the body of a young woman who ran towards danger and not away from it?

While Xander and the unknown mage faced off. Bobbi called Willow and explained quickly what was going down. Willow and her team had just finished fighting an Apocalypse of their own. She didn't need to rush another one this soon. But Dawn was family, and so she gathered her energy and looked for Xander's signature to home in on.

"Man step back. This is not the place to have this discussion. You will stop talking about Dawn like that and I mean now. This is your last warning." Xander was ready to go to war again. After the battle he just fought he thought that he would be exhausted. But it looked like stamina was one of the new improvements made by the spear.

"This situation is not acceptable..." Stephen detected a massive amount of magical energy coming his way and immediately erected his strongest defensive barriers. Willow Rosenberg and her partner the slayer Kennedy had teleported in right behind Harris. "...Miss Rosenberg..."

"Dr. Strange...what are you up to?" she asked nicely. She always did everything nicely. The velvet glove could always come off, later.

"The Key must be returned to her rightful guardians. That guardian is the Sorcerer Supreme of this dimension my master the Ancient One."

"With all due respect to both you and the Ancient One... I don t think so. Dawn is family. Not a thing. Besides, she's no longer the Key. That energy has been expended when Glorificus released it in an attempt to open her way home a decade ago."

"Don't fool yourself. You are the 'Avatar of Gaea.' you should be able to sense her true form no matter what she has done to hide it.

Willow saw that Strange meant every word he said. She stepped back and looked at Kennedy and Xander. They knew the look, it said cover me in the Scooby code. She rescanned Dawn again, and again the scan tuned up negative. "Are you sure? Because I can't see any difference from the last time I gave her a check up."

Dawn's cheeks turned red as she remembered that checkup, but she held her tongue.

"Of course I am sure. It's hard to miss when she was a hundred and fifty feet tall..." he replied, but just to be sure he scanned her again. This time his scans turned up negative as well. "...strange. She doesn't show up as the Key anymore. Are you shielding yourself?" he looked at Dawn, who back away from him again. Xander and Faith stepped on either side of her to reassure her that they would be with her no matter what, and Bruce backed up Faith. And he was a lot of back up in his Hulk form.


	18. Chapter 18

**Manhattan, N.Y.  
Stark Tower, Rooftop.**

* * *

Steve took the opportunity to remove the 'Cosmic Cube' from the portal machine built by Dr. Selvig.

As soon as the 'Cube' came in contact with Steve's hand the 'Cube' glowed a slight pink color. Steve didn't know enough about the 'Cube' to tell if this was significant or not, but since nothing else happened he let it slide for now.

He then checked in on the rest of the team. Something of great significance was going on, but here again he didn't have enough information to go on. "Natasha, are you alright?"

"Natasha detected the concern in Steve's voice, "Yeah, physically I am good to go, for a few more rounds, but this spear..."

*GUNGNIR!*

"...What?" she looked at the spear in confusion.

*MY NAME IS GUNGNIR! YOU ARE NOW THE PRIMARY WIELDER! THE UNIT FAITH HAS BEEN DOWNGRADED TO SECONDARY WIELDER STATUS!*

"Why would you do that?" Natasha held up her hand to forestall Steve obvious questions. Clint came over without Bobbi Morse.

"Tasha?" he looked at her and Faith's spear still in her hand. The question in his eyes obvious to those who could read the man, which pretty much was her, Phil Coulson and maybe Xander Harris.

*THE FAITH UNIT IS TOO UNPREDICTABLE AND CHAOTIC AS A PRIMARY WIELDER. YOU HAVE A CORE OF ORDER WOVEN INTO YOUR VERY FIBER!*

"It looks like the spear, Gungnir, is his name by the way; just dumped Faith as the main wielder. It seems I'm more his cup of tea." she said with a tight smile. "Now if only he would let me go..." she held her hand palm out facing down to show how the spear was now stuck to her skin. "How long are you going to keep doing that?" she asked the spear.

*NOT LONG! I WILL FINISH THE FINAL STAGE OF YOUR UPGRADE SHORTLY!*

Natasha knew better than to argue with something that has it's own agenda. She would bide her time.

"You been keeping up with the new drama?" she asked Clint.

"Yeah. They've decide to talk, but no one is stepping off defcon 1 just yet. Captain I suggest we get our people out of here and secure the Teseract."

"I was about to suggest the same thing myself agent Barton. You beat me to be punch." Steve began issuing orders. Sam Finn and her team led a manacled Loki to the rooftop.

"Loki. You will pay for what you have wrought brother." Thor declared.

"Not so loud you oaf. That mindless green beast has had his way with me. I am still recovering." Loki winced as Thor laughed loudly at his predicament.

"Enough. You insufferable wretch..." his tirade was cut short by Sam as she stuffed a ball-gag she found in Stark's private playground. She would have to try some of the more interesting devices with Riley when they have the time.

"Captain..." Thor got Steve's attention, "...I will need the Teseract to transport Loki home for the punishment he so richly deserves."

"I can't just give to you yet Thor. I will need to talk to the others."

"Give him what?" Tony was slowly gaining in strength. In fact he was getting stronger, with the ejection and removal of the last bit of shrapnel from his heart there was nothing holding his body back. The suit was back online and JARVIS had been feeding him constant updates on the changes. And what changes they were: Faster reaction times, stronger and denser constitution and all that went with it, heightened senses, regeneration which started the ball rolling in his case.

He kept a small eye on what was happening around him, but seriously the changes occurring in his body took precedence.

The Avengers were gathering as a group and he had joined them. "Give him what?" he repeated.

"He wants the Tesseract." Steve raised the cube in his hand.

"Sorry. Can't have it. We're going to need It." was Tony's quick reply.

"Without the Tesseract both Loki and I will be stuck here, until the All-Father has repaired Bifrosti."

"Excuse me, but repaired the what?" Tony was curious. Anything that needed to be repaired usually meant technology, and no offense to the big guy. He was sure that Thor wasn't stupid by any means, but he wasn't technically inclined, but then he didn't know much about his culture, he could be his people's... Well him. Wait no scratch that. Loki was more like Tony than Thor. Him he could see as the innovative thinker. The big looked like a jock and he hit like one too.

"Bifrosti is my people's bridge to the nine worlds. With it you can instantly travel from one world to the next. Due to Loki's schemes it was severely damaged. My father has to dig deep into his internal energy reserves to send me to Earth."

"That's, well that actually sounds kinda impressive. So you and mister sneaky are stuck here unless you use the Tesseract to go back home then?"

"That is the meat of the matter." agreed Thor.

"I'm for giving it to him." Tony raised his hand to indicate that he was voting in Thor's favor.

"It's not up to us. Director Fury..."

Tony interrupted rudely Natasha, "Director Fury can go such a hairy lemon, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean. Any ten year old knows what you mean. It's Director Fury's decision to make."

"I have to go with Tasha on that one." Clint weighed his vote with Natasha's.

"Oh what do you know? You're a brainwashed extension of Fury. Of course you're going to agree with her."

"I hate to say it but I have to agree with Stark about the Tesseract. And about Fury's intentions. I just don't agree with the man's underhand practices."

"That's two for and two against. Let's see what the others think. Is Phil an Avenger?"

Tony called Xander and the the girls over. He quickly explained the new situation.

Dawn snorted. "It's really not p to you." she told them.

"What do you mean?" Steve hated to be out of the loop. He didn't know if it was something that he should know or not.

"I mean it's up to the slut baby over there. Not you." she pointed to the Teseract in Steve's hands. She snorted again at how she was behaving.

The Tesseract pulsed.

"Ah! I can't believe you said that."

Another pulse was her answer.

Steve held the cube up with his hand and looked deeply into it trying to decipher what it was doing, and how Dawn was talking to it, or her as Dawn kept on insisting. The Tesseract glowed pink again.

"See what I mean; a slut bomb in the making..."

Another pulse was the reply.

"Oh really. In that case you won't object to my telling him. Will you?"

"Object to what?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. What he said." Tony wanted to know just how, and what kind of intelligence he was dealing with here.

"This slut has a crush on Steve. Why do you think she turns that shade of pink every time he holds her up like that. She can't help herself." Dawn was smug. 'Let's see her try and defend against that.'

Another pulse.

"What? You take that back you bitch..." Dawn poked the Teseract. Another pulse was the answer, but this one was different. It looked like Dawn had stuck her finger into a live electrical socket. She jerked around until Xander pulled her back.

There was a flash of light and a naked woman was standing in front of the group.

"Sharon?" Steve could not believe his eyes. Sharon Carter was standing naked in front of him. "How?"

"You bitch!" Dawn jumped out of Xander's arms and tried to attack the new woman in front of them.

"Why isn't the Tesseract glowing anymore?" Tony ever the scientist asked.

"That's because the bitch raped me and decided she was ready to be born." she snarled like any angry cat.

"How so Lady Dawn?" asked Thor.

"Isn't it obvious. She copied my genetic material and made herself a body." she spit out.

"Is this true?" Steve asked Sharon's copy.

"Yes it is. But it was my time to come out. She just made it simpler. She was the only one who could have helped me open the doorway from inside the shell."

"Shell?"

"Yeah shell." Dawn pointed at the cube. "It's like a cosmic egg. It hold the essence of things like her. The bitch..."

"Oh I wouldn't talk mother after all look at you."

"Don't you dare go there missy, or I'm so putting you over my knee...and take that back. I'm so not your mother."

"Why Sharon?"

The new Sharon looked at Steve and smiled, "You want her desperately and your fondest memories are if her. She's also a good person to emulate, and my only other option was her." she pointed to Dawn.

Again Dawn jumped to claw the other cosmic being's eyes and again Xander was there to stop her. He new his girls well enough to predict what would set them off. "Sharon. You might want to tone it down a bit."

"Too much?" she asked Xander.

Xander nodded his head and Sharon sighed, "Okay, but only because you asked so nicely. Say who's that?" she pointed at the floating old man that just appeared next to Dr. Strange.

****

Manhattan, N.Y.  
Stark Tower, Rooftop.

* * *

"Sir, agent Coulson and a party of several young women that match agent Morse genetic make up and an independent operative by the name of Blade are on their way up." JARVIS reported.

"Have Coulson drop by Peppers office and pick up one of her spare outfits. We have a naked young woman that will need something to wear."

"Very good sir."

Tony made sure that he had a record for everything that happened so far, and not just to ogle the new stunning beauty.

Now if he could only figure out why he couldn't hear the Mambo jumbo crowd over there. "Uh, is it just me or can anyone hear what they're saying?"

Xander gave Sharon his coat, since he was the only man here with one and Dawn wasn't about to give up her favorite red leather jacket. "Have you ever watched 'Get Smart?', it's something like that."

"What? You mean the sixties spy comedy?"

"Yep. What were your favorite gadgets on the show?"

Tony thought back for a moment. Aside from agent 99 and the occasional idea he got from it. It was okay. "There was the shoe phone and Hymie that gave me the idea for the LMD (Life Model Decoy)...oh yeah, the cone of silence...but I don't see any equipment to...I hate magic!"

"Who doesn't. For years it mocked me, after a decade and a half I barely have the energy to do a few spells and rituals. Most watchers I know can handle at least a couple of dozen odd spells and rituals. That's why I have my own practitioner whenever I travel. Isn't that right Dawn?"

Dawn didn't turn her head to respond. She was still in the middle of a stare down with 'Sharon', "Yeah. Whatever." her attitude said don't bother me on pain of dismemberment.

"See? Any-who the silence spell is a must for most world ending situations..."

"Get a lot of those do you?" asked Tony.

"...Two to four a year personally. Lots of nuts and bolts out there that are more than willing to acquire a bit of power, and they don't mind selling the rest of us to the closest rule of whatever hell dimension is at hand. Never doubt the power of the silence spell...I wonder if I can channel all this cosmic energy to power it..."

Tony didn't like where this was going. He'd seen Xander go off on tangents before and he didn't want to waste his time. "Mind coming back to the planet New York any time soon Xander?"

"What? Oh yeah. You're definitely right. Now's not the time to wonder if my unmixy relationship with magic is over. Lots of time to experiment later on, preferably with Willow around to put out the occasional fire or to banish the accidentally summoned arch fiends of..."

"Xander!" Tony yelled.

**"Oops**. Did it again. Thems the hazards of working with a Scooby. Short attention span. Personally I blame television...oh. Did it again. Anyway, what were we talking about? Oh yeah. Silence spell. Willow doesn't even have to wave her hands around now a days. She just wills her spells. Kinda scary, but that's my Wills."

"Just how powerful is she?" Tony wondered aloud.

"Dis you see how Thor treated her?" at Tony's nod Xander continued, "and do you remember how he treats you?"

"Yeah...hey! What's the big idea Thor?" Tony turned to Thor' while Xander snickered behind him.

'Mission misdirect the overly inquisitive billionaire with the false facade away from my Wills...Successful. The last thing we need is his tactfulness messing around with Willow and magic. If we're lucky, he'd turn himself into the iron chihuahua. If not kiss New York goodbye. That guys just doesn't do small. He he he.' Xander frowned. He did wonder why Willow was taking so long? He walked over to the magic users while Tony, Dawn and Bobbi along with the new mini-Dawnie kept everyone distracted. He didn't miss the part where Sharon called Dawn her genetic mother. He'd bet anything that she wasn't talking out of her ass. He could already tell that most of her body language was Dawn, and the rest was tailor made from Steve's memories to attract Steve. He didn't think Buffy would take it well when he told her she was a grandmother. He stopped walking over to Willow and the mages when something that was nagging him just got even more obvious. 'If Sharon is out here, what's left in the cube?'. "Sharon, what's in the cube?" he asked straight out. 'If she's more like Dawn like I suspect she should blurt out...'

"Oh that's the new one...oops. That was supposed to be a secret. How did you guess?" she asked.

'He he he. Just like my Dawn muffin.', "It's a thing. I can see the glow getting more intense." Xander looked even deeper into the cube. He frowned and lurched back when his mind encountered the new intelligence. It was there and vast, but it was barely aware of itself. "Dawn..." he glanced at his spitfire.

"Why do you think I'm so angry. I don't mind loaning her a bit of genetics, but what she did next was rape. She took a bit if me and a bit of herself and mixed together and left it behind inside the cube. Whatever's inside is as much my child as it is hers, whether I want it or not. And no way am I letting her have full custody. She doesn't know what she's doing and I can't really kick her ass 'cause like it or not, and whether she acts like it or not she's still a baby herself." Dawn was really pissed and she didn't have anyone to take it out on, or didn't she. She looked at Dr. Strange and a wicked gleam came into her eyes.

'Uh oh! I know that look. Nothing good ever comes from that look.' Xander followed her gaze and saw Willow and the new old guy talking. They were ignoring the poofta in the leotard. Dawn however wasn't.


	19. Chapter 19

**  
Manhattan, N.Y.  
Stark Tower, Rooftop.**

* * *

The one simply known as the Ancient One looked at the scene in front of him and smiled. On the surface it looked like his student Stephen Strange was in a staring contest with the Avatar of the Green Mother.

On the astral plane the picture was much different. Invisible 'Crimson Bands of Crytok' hog tied Stephen in a hilarious configuration. 'So the little red tree has a sense of humor. That's good to know.'

He dipped his head in respect. "Greetings young Avatar."

"Hi. You're the Ancient One. Aren't you?"

"That I am. May I ask, why is my young, but still apparently foolish apprentice hog tied?"

"Oh sure. He's a poopy head and wants to take away our Dawnie..." she pointed to Dawn, "...kept telling him that she's no longer who he thinks she is, but he won't even listen so, I kinda had to get rough."

"I see. May I ask why the bunny ears?" his amusement evident.

"A friend was deathly afraid of them for some reason, whenever the occasion warrants, I try to see if I can find others who are, and it's easily reversible. 'Sides he has that evil rabbit look. It just felt appropriate." she shrugged.

The Ancient One looked at Dawn and saw the rest of the gathered heroes around her. He noticed that she had the residual energies of the key in her aura, and that she was standing with Asgardians, a newly hatched cosmic cube, if he was not mistaken, and marvels of all sorts.

"Why does your young friend have the residual energies of the Key in her aura?"

"Well...she used to be the Key. The monks guarding her were under attack by Glorificus were trying to send it to someone to protect. They must have tried a few mystical champions, but for some reason no one answered their pleas. So they asked the Almighty to grant her a soul and send it to 'The Slayer' to protect. To make sure the slayer gave her all they made the key out of her and sent it in as her sister. This way she was sure to do everything in her power to protect the Key, including sacrificing herself to keep her safe. Their gamble worked. After Glorificus used the Key to blast open the gates of the multiverse the energies of the key were released and Dawn was left behind. Sure she has an affinity to portal magic, but she's no longer the Key."

The Ancient One nodded his head as he listened to Willow's tale and expanded his senses to their utmost. His examination bore fruit. "You are correct she is no longer the Key, but she can be when she wants to be. The energies of the Key are at her beck and call. She can access them anytime she wants, and the essence of the Key is woven into her very soul. She can ascend into the Universal Key any time she wants, but for now I think her human nature will take precedence until she outgrows human concerns." He turned away from his examination back to his student. He gestured for Willow to please remove the gag. Willow reluctantly did as he requested. She could always silence the arrogant ass. "Stephen, why are you so set on removing this young woman from her family?"

"Master, you did not see her in her giant form. When I saw her in that transformed state her very essence screamed the Key at my senses. She might not be the Key when she's back to normal, but the moment her human shell transforms to something else the Key will be revealed to anyone with eyes to see."

"Listen, you. Just 'cause you have a bit of power it doesn't mean you can decide to do whatever you want. The Creator was asked to grant her a soul to house the Key. Are you saying that you know better than the Creator? That you, the somewhat mighty Mage, are better at deciding who does or doesn't get a soul? Who died and made you the one responsible for the actions of the higher beings?" She looked at the Ancient One with her Willow face of absolute seriousness. "If you guys even try to take her, you'd better be ready for a war. She's family and we will challenge heaven and earth for her."

Dr. Stephen Strange, for the very first time today, got the feeling that someone just walked across his grave. He knew Rosenberg was powerful and she was skilled at her craft, but when she let her power flare like that it almost made him shit his pants. He was worried about the Key. Maybe he should be worried more about Willow Rosenberg.

"While my apprentice gathers his thoughts I don't endorse his actions, but I am worried about her ability to be used as a conduit to access the pathways of Eternity. Until she can defend herself against all she must stay hidden in the form made for her by the Heavenly Master. Even I am challenged to detect the essence of the Key in this form, but if my student was could detect the Key in her when she transforms her human shell, then so could the other powers. For her own protection she must stay confined to her birth form."

Willow frowned. She was in deep thought. She could see the Ancient One's point. Xander and his Team could keep Dawn safe against most things that can reach Earth, but if Dawn was ever kidnapped and taken to another dimension, when she transformed there her protections would be nullified. To keep her safe she would have to either restrict her movement or restrict her ability to transform out of her protected shell. 'Damn. Damn and double damn. I hate making these decisions.

She looked at the old master and made up her mind. The Ancient One could see that the young Avatar had reached a decision. "I'll take care of it," she promised.

"That's not good enough. We must..." The gag came back and the rest of Dr. Strange's speech was muffled.

His master gave him a disapproving frown. *Stephen not now. The young Avatar has a difficult task ahead of her. Do not distract her with your foolishness.*

Strange stopped struggling against the restraints that bound him as he listened to his master's thoughts. Out of respect to the Ancient One he would stop trying to force the issue, but he promised himself that he would keep a close eye, from this moment forward, on these gathered heroes and one Dawn Summers to make sure that the Key was never detected or released, even if he had to join their company to keep that promise.

He saw a man with one green, and one brown eye approach. "Wills, are we done here?" he looked at Stephen and smirked. "Nice chains, Wills, all glowy, and shiny, but why the bunny ears?"

"Xander, you can see that? They're on the astral plane, you're not supposed to see them."

Xander shrugged, "Whatever. If you're done with your rabbit obsession we have a slight transportation issue to deal with." He pointed his thumb at Thor and Loki.

"In a sec. Almost done." she turned to the Ancient One, "I'll do what I must, but you will leave my family alone," she said, the threat of 'or else' was very clear.

The Ancient One bowed his consent. He knew that it was a difficult decision to make and appreciated her strength of character in choosing to do the binding herself. He would guard against any other-worldly intruders that might seek the Key. As he was sure Stephen would do the same.

"Resolve face Wills? It's that serious?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, it looks like there are some complications."

"What are we talking about here?"

Willow explained the situation in detail. As the One Who Sees she knew he would spot any crap she tried to come up with and as Xander he could read her like an open book. When she was done, she could see that he was not happy. She saw him look at both Strange and the Ancient One.

"I don't agree with this half-assed decision. I know there's a better way. You are acting out of panic. Willow, there's a better way than to bind her. Find it. You two had better keep away, or I will be visiting you when you least expect it, and if you think that binding her soul to her body is okay, then you won't mind my binding your souls to this," he threatened them by pulling out the Black Sword.

"Xander, No. They're good guys. They just don't have a choice. I'll be the one who does the binding, and when Dawn is strong enough to stand on her own I'll be the first to release her, but we're doing this to keep her safe."

"Wills, there's always someone out there who's more powerful or smarter and trickier than you are. Dawn has to have the freedom to grow into herself without such restraints. What would you do if someone tried to bind you?"

Willow thought about that, and about the time she lost control to the dark side. She wouldn't have minded too much if someone had bound her back then. She would have deserved it for trying to end the world. If it wasn't for Xander...she still didn't like thinking about that pain filled period of her life. But this was different. Wasn't it?

"That's a soul drinker." the Ancient One Observed.

"Yes it is. Wanna make something of it?" Xander's smile sent a chill down the Ancient One and his student's spines. The Ancient One looked closely at the man in front of him and examined him with his senses. 'Another being of power. An Asgardian Primal Master with a soul drinker for a weapon. Can you say Mage killer? I do not need to deal with this crap when I am so close to joining the universal harmony. Let Stephen deal with these headaches.

"What guarantees do you give, Black Knight? The Key must be protected."

Xander looked grim. He looked at Willow and after a quick mental meeting they came to a decision. "We will take responsibility for her until she comes into her own. Neither I nor my sister will leave her alone. From now on either I or Willow will guard her, until she can kick anyone's ass that comes for her. I swear this on my very soul. No one is getting through me to get to my Dawn. Do you understand?"

"We do! The responsibility is yours. Guard her well. Come, Stephen, we shall take our leave."

With a wave of his hand that was just for show, the Ancient One and his student disappeared with a pop of air.

"Willow, how could you? You shouldn't have let them back you into a corner like that..."

"Xander! It's not that simple..."

"...when it comes to our family, Willow...it is that simple. I would do the same for any of you." The 'so should you' was left unsaid.

Willow got the message. After all she had graduated from the school of life with a degree in Xander when she was just a teen. She knew him to his very hard steel core. He was her Xander and she was his Willow. He would always be there to guide her back from the abyss of send her there if it was ever needed. It was nice to have a safety net like that. She gave him her best 'I'm proud of you' smile, hooked elbows and went to see what she could do to help him with his new friends.

Xander smiled back at her. No matter what he would always be there for her and all his girls.


	20. Chapter 20

**Manhattan, N.Y.  
Stark Tower, Rooftop.**

* * *

"Thank you, Phil." Tony took one of Pepper's spare outfits and gave it to Sharon. "Maybe these fine ladies could help you change?" He looked at the Slayers, when Rona dipped her chin in agreement, "Excellent. I won't forget this. Your next vacation is on me. I have this place right on the beach in Monaco. You'll love it."

Blade groaned, "Great more fun in the freakin' sun."

"You shush. Don't listen to him. Thank you. We'd love to take you up on it, but can we stagger it for like three separate vacations, of two girls each?"

"Sure why not. Mind if I ask why?"

"its Apocalypse season and we can't be undermanned. I need all my girls together for when the shit comes down."

"I keep hearing about this Apocalypse season. That can't be right. There's no way we're in danger of extinction so damn often."

"Don't worry about it. We're still here, ain't we? I let the big wigs like Xander and Willow worry about it." She shrugged, it wasn't her problem. Her jurisdiction was the New York state area and most of the crap came from the Big Apple itself. Hell even Aliens seemed to prefer to take a chunk out of the ol' Apple.

"Seriously? Xander is a big wig?" Tony knew from what he'd seen that Xander had some serious pull behind him. You just don't tease someone like Nick Fury without something to back you up, but still, a big wig.

"He's an original Scooby. They don't get much bigger than that. C'mon, honey, let's get you changed. Are you even wearing anything under that coat...say, that looks like Xander's coat...he doing his knight thing again..." Rona and the girls took Sharon away for some privacy, she didn't want to let go of Steve, but Rona told her not to give out any shows for free.

Xander and Willow re-joined the party. Xander noticed that Julie was just about surgically attached to the Spiderman kid at this point. Looked like a shovel speech was in the kid's future. He sighed. 'When the hell did I become the parent?' he wanted to know.

"Julie, who's your friend?"

"Hi, Willow. This is Spidey. I'm trying to get him to join me when it my turn to go on vacation at Mr. Stark's Monaco retreat."

"Hi, Spidey..." Willow giggled as she shook the masked adventurer's hand. She could see that he was struggling to get away from Julie's clutches. She giggled again silently. 'Good luck with that.' She took a good look at Spiderman and scanned his aura just to be sure. 'Oh. My. Goddess! Another Primal like Xander, only with Spiders. Wonder how that happened. There's none of the usual side effects. He still looks like he's the one in control. Maybe I can get Julie to bring him by for a closer look later...'

"Nice to meet you, ma'am." Spidey had been keeping an eye on this woman ever since she appeared. She was pinging off his Spidey-sense big time. She didn't feel like she was a danger to himself or anyone really, and she was friends with Xander, who was okay, and Julie who was, well he didn't know what Julie was at this point. Maybe he could introduce her to M.J. And just let the two of them hash it out. Anyway when she and Strange were in a stare down contest, he didn't think that Strange was the winner. Which was crazy, when you knew Strange. And he so knew Strange and wished to god he didn't sometimes. Then the Ancient One shows up and it looked like he was making nice with the red head. Very respectful from the body language he could read and then Xander goes over and he almost jumped when he pulled out that big assed black sword of his. Where was he keeping it anyway and where did he put it? Whatever. When he didn't attack right away he stopped himself, and clinging Julie would have made it difficult to intervene even if he did want to do something, but it looked like Xander was just showing them the sword, which was weird in itself and then they just took off. With friends, and maybe overprotective relatives, like these did he really want to hang out with Julie and her Models Combat Inc. friends?

His spider sense tingled as Willow shook his hand, but again it was like warning him of the potential danger and nothing immediate. It's like a mouse sleeping next to an elephant thing. It was the mouse's job to be careful, 'cause hello...Elephant!

He relaxed when she moved on and directed her attentions to someone else. He almost sighed in relief, but kept it in. There was still Julie and he didn't want to give her the wrong impression, now if he only knew which impression he wanted to give.

Again Xander was making like old buddies with gramps and Captain A. Xander didn't act like old people, what's up with that? "Hey, uh Julie..."

"Yes, Spidey?" By this time Julie was already planning the wedding, she just needed to check and see what was under the torn mask. What she saw was okay, brown hair, strong jaw and stuff, but a better picture wouldn't hurt.

"How old is Xander? I mean he acts like he looks and even younger. Heck he almost clowns around as much as me, but he also hangs around my gramps. Is he like some kind of immortal or something?"

"Nah. He's just Xander. What you see is what you get." She gave it a bit of thought and shrugged. He was Xander. All the girls looked up to him like a big brother, or even father figure to some of the younger girls. He was someone safe. They sought his approval and went away happy when they got it. 'Hey Spidey's a lot like Xander. Maybe I'm trying to get someone like him...nah! Spidey's way more fun. I can just feel it. No hang-ups whatsoever.'

Peter just couldn't let it go something wasn't right with this picture. It didn't make sense, but since it wasn't a danger or even a bad thing as far as he could see, all he could do was just keep an eye out. He hated dealing with these kinds of situations that looked like they could crossover into his private life. He just knew that Julie would make that crossover. There was just no shakin' the girl.

While Peter brooded, the rest of the heroes got on with the clean-up.

"Will this new Tesseract provide the power needed to travel to Asgard?" Thor asked. He held Loki by the pink manacles. He frowned. "May I ask, lady Sam, why this color?"

"Don't look at me. It was a wedding anniversary gift from her." she pointed at Willow.

"You don't like it?" Willow became upset that they took the gag gift the wrong way. She did give several other gifts.

Thor raised an eye towards, "Lady Avatar?"

"It was for spicing things up. You know, in the bedroom."

Steve turned beat red, and Tony looked interested. JARVIS was taking notes.

"Hold it, buster. Who said you can take away my child?" Dawn challenged the Thunder God. "No one is taking my baby away. Do you understand?" she growled.

"How is it your baby? It's a cube." Tony asked.

"It was a cube, until the bitch raped me..."

"Dawn Marie Summers! That is quite enough! I know you don't like this, hell I don't like this...this crappy situation we're in, but that woman is your genetic daughter. You don't like her, I get that, but this hits too close to home. Have you ever thought about Buffy and what she went through? It looks like a Summers tradition, it's a crappy tradition I know, but don't take it out on her like that, she is still a child. Talk to her like the adult I know you are. I know Joyce raised you right. Why don't you take your cues from her? The girl is a Summers after all...Hey I just thought of something, does this mean that Buffy's a grandmother now?"

"BWAHAHAHAHA!" Faith fell on her ass laughing at the mental picture that just popped into her head. She could just imagine it. Xander doing the intro thing and Buffy denying it and shit and going like 'No, I'm too you young to be a Granny.'

"What's with her?" asked Natasha, her eyebrow nearly reaching her hairline.

"It's a chosen thing. Ignore it. We do." Xander went back to Dawn and tried to get her to see the positives and get past the negatives. It was crappy, but they've had to deal with crappy all their lives. This wouldn't be any different.

"Hey, X. Does that mean you're the father, or better yet the step-daddy. BWAHAHAHAHA!" Faith lost it again as all these thoughts just kept popping into her head. God she hadn't laughed liked this in like forever.

"Father..." Steve asked hesitantly.

"Yes, my son?" Xander was still Xander and the situation wasn't entirely lost on him. Why should Faith have all the fun?

"Say. Are you any relations to a Scott and Alex Summers?" Logan asked out of left field.

"What" The question caught Dawn by surprise. "Why do you want to know?"

"Slim's a team mate and he never seemed to have a family worth mentioning. Just wondering where you guys were when he was left at the orphanage. That is if you are related and stuff..."

"You mean they're alive? We were told they, the whole family died in the plane crash. You know where they are?"

"This just got complicated. You Summers always do complicated."

"Jimmy. I'd appreciate it if you could get word..."

"Yeah, sure, no problem, Harris. It's family..."

"Like you said, family," Xander agreed.

"That means that Carter is really a Summers and whatever's in there is one also. Man you Summers' really do the weird in a big way don't you. First the Phoenix and now this. Gimme a minute to get in touch will you?" Logan pulls out a communicator and dialed home.

"Uh oh! My spider-sense is tingling."

"Then take something for it." a gruff voice told him. Logan went back to talking with Chuck. "Yeah Chuck. Tell them they've got relatives just as weird, if not weirder."

"I think he means his danger sense. You hear that?" Xander asked Logan.

"Gunfire. Sounds like a mad minute. I don't think it's over." was Logan's gruff reply.

"Shit! It's my fault. I should have realized that it wasn't over. An advanced civilization would have a backup. when the broadcast power shut down so abruptly, it must have thrown their systems into shock. The backups are bringing them back online so to speak. C'mon I'm getting reports from all over. It looks like the Fat Lady isn't singing just yet." Tony called for JARVIS to send another Mark VII. This one was the worse for wear.

While Stark was getting suited up the rest of the heroes got ready to rejoin the marine units on the ground.

"C'mon Wills. It looks like you get to stomp on some alien butt after all." Xander gave her a mad grin.

"How is that a good thing? Violence never solves anything."

Xander gave her a long look and she relented.

"Okay, okay. It solves some things. But not everything. Dawnie you want to do the honors?" Willow wiggled her fingers.

"Ooh this is so exciting. Stick with me Spidey. I'll keep you safe from the big bad aliens."

'That's nice, but who's going to keep me safe from her?'

Peter decided to just jump off the roof. These guys were taking too long to respond for his liking.

"No. We should stick together." Steve yelled trying to get the impulsive kids back, but he was ignored. He looked around and saw that the SHIELD unit was boarding the Transport, and the Slayers along with Sharon were going with them. 'Just great. No one listens. If this team ever takes off the ground, the first thing I'm pounding into their heads is teamwork and following the chain of command.'


	21. Chapter 21

**Manhattan, N.Y.  
Midtown Parking, Rooftop.**

* * *

Punisher's War Journal  
May 04, 2012

I fucked up. Plain and simple. The SHIELD marine caught me fair and square. There wasn't much I could do. One of the alien hover craft was about to blast one of the heroes. I had to take the shot. The marine saw it a pulled some kind of a futuristic blaster weapon on me. I tried to bluff him, but he wasn't buying. Smart marine. Most were. I should know.

When one of the hover craft came after my sniper position. He took his eyes of me for just a split second. His mistake. He took down the alien craft with one shot. I took the opportunity to take him down right after.

Something wasn't right. He was a lot harder to take down. Super soldier hard I'd say. SHIELD must have put everyone they has on the front lines. About damn time. Stop hiding in the fuckin' shadows and come out and do the job like it's supposed to be done.

For the first time I couldn't complain. They were doing the job and they caught me nappin', that'll teach me to get complacent.

I hooked the marine to a saline solution with a drug guaranteed to keep you under. I didn't want this marine, Brody it said on the name tag. I didn't want him to just wake up. 'Specially if he was a super soldier.

I took his uniform and weapons. It was time to hit the streets and see what the war on the ground was like.

**Manhattan, N.Y.  
39th Street.**

* * *

39th street was a war zone. The ground was littered with death and destruction. The Marines held their positions and with the occasional fly-by from Iron Man they were bleeding the aliens dry.

Too bad no one told the aliens. They kept pouring out of that damn portal like an army of angry fire ants. Frank had no doubt that without the efforts of the heroes and the villains, the aliens would have taken Manhattan without much effort. Once someone with superior technology and numbers established a beachhead; good luck kicking them back out.

He didn't think they'd be willing to go back the way they came from.

He helped out where he could. He was familiar with the normal marine tactics and he made sure to keep current with the advances used by most of the high tech units deployed. Units like the SHIELD Marines.

There were several things that grabbed his attention. Every single marine was performing way past previously set expectations. As if every one of them was given a shit-load of that super soldier formula. It sure as hell looked like SHIELD found a way to make it work.

Then there was another level of super soldier deployed. These guys were at least ten times as strong as the souped up marines. True there weren't as many of them, but there were enough. Together with the new energy weapons, they were turning a potential blood bath into a real fight.

He knew that when this fight was over, SHIELD would have a real battle on their hands in the world's court for bypassing the super soldier experimentation ban.

The heroes must have done something right. The portal had shrunk to less than half its previous size.

"Prepare for Nuclear deployment!" announced the com gear built into the helmet.

"The fuck! We're winning. Why are they lobbing nukes?" he asked out loud.

A Captain Robins heard him, "It's a rogue. Some politico's playing around. I hate those arm chair generals!" He took a deep breath and shouted, "EVERYONE INTO THE SUBWAY! NOW!"

Frank was about to join the exodus, when he noticed that the super soldiers held their ground, and so did a lot of marines. He decided to do the same. 'Screw the nuke. If I live through this someone's going to pay for this shit-storm,' he promised himself. A few seconds later Iron Man flew by with a nuke on his back.

"I'll be God-Damned!" he said.

He wasn't the only one.

They watched the playboy guide the missile through the portal.

"YES! DID YOU FUCKIN' SEE THAT!" a marine named Greenwood shouted.

There were murmurs of admiration for the hero's sacrifice.

When the aliens dropped out of the sky and on the ground like marionettes with their strings, everyone exploded. The hero did it.

'He sure earned his name with that one. Hat's off to you buddy,' Frank thought.

"WILL YOU LOOK AT THAT!" the same marine with the loud voice shouted.

Frank looked just in time to see the portal close. He also saw Iron Man slip through before the portal snapped shut. 'Good for him.' After watching for a few seconds it looked like the man was falling down like a brick.

"He's not slowing down. Man, I hope he makes it." Captain Robins said near Frank.

"Yeah. Me too!" he agreed.

Together the two men looked on and hoped for the best. When they saw him disappear into a green portal, Captain Robins wondered aloud, "Is that a good or bad sign?"

When Frank saw the corresponding green glow coming from the top of Stark's Tower, and then followed by Iron Man shooting upwards. "Neat trick. I wonder how they did that?"

"Beats me."

"Say Cap...don't you think we should secure the alien weapons and the aliens, just in case they decide to get up?" Frank was a dyed-in-the-wool paranoid, but in his line of work that was a survival trait, because everyone was out to get him.

"You know..." Captain Robins looks at the name tag, and says, "Kinda overkill, but it can't hurt to get the weapons secure before some civilian runs off with a trophy." He gave the order, and made the suggestion, up and down the chain of command.

The marines begin start gathering the weapons and securing the aliens when it was convenient. They were at it for about ten minutes when the first alien began to stir.

The alarm was quickly given and the marine changed the importance of their orders and started to secure as many of the aliens as they could, but they only were able to cover half of the bodies on the ground. The other half saw what was going on and started to fight back. Again the marines changed tactics and started to fire back on the disorganized enemy, but they weren't much better themselves. A mad minute went by where humans were firing at the aliens, and the aliens were firing on the humans. Friendly fire from both sides started to take its toll and both sides decided to switch tactics. They went after each other hand to hand k-bars and entrenching tools against the alien battle staves. Quite a few marines had picked up some of those same staves and were putting them to good effect.

The marines' high morale and pack-like tactics began to turn the tide, but there were too many aliens. That was when the heroes started arriving.

First it was Spider-Man and some girl who jumped about three stories mid-air and started to slash the aliens with a sword of all things.

The marines would have tried to stop her, if she didn't go through the aliens like a buzz saw. At that point they gave her a wide berth and saw to their own tasks.

The Hulk dropped from the sky and hottie jumped from his back as well. This one was even deadlier than the first girl.

"Where the hell are these girls coming from?" Frank asked out loud.

"Who cares? Would you look at them go. Man, where can I get a girl like that?" a marine by the name of Allmon answered.

Soon the rest of the heroes arrived to help out. There were even more girls like the first couple, and Captain Robins recognized the Black Widow among their number. He guessed they were probably secret SHIELD agents like her.

Frank took out as many as the murdering scum as he could. He then tried to make his way to the subway, since his help was no longer required. The heroes and their allies were in the process of mopping up and no one needed his help.

Something stung the back of his neck. He slapped his hand quickly to find what hit him. He found a dart. He looked back and saw Captain Robins put away a dart pistol.

"I know Brody. And you are not him. But since you helped I'm going to keep you alive. We'll let SHIELD's Psy division find out who you are? And what you did with Brody?"

Frank fell down as the fast acting drug took effect. He was out before he hit the ground.


	22. Chapter 22

******Manhattan, New York.  
Offshore SHIELD Helicarrier.**

Punisher's War Journal  
May?/?/?

* * *

I woke up slowly. I didn't know how I got here, or for that matter where here was. I was still out of it. I kept my eyes closed and regulated my breathing again. As I took stock of all my body parts, just to make sure they were all there, I tried to reconstruct what happened. I think there was an alien invasion, and I was right in the thick of it.

Somehow I must have tipped off my hand to the marine officer that shot me with a tranq gun of all things.

That would mean I was either a guest of SHIELD or in a prison hospital of some kind. I wasn't that hard to identify after all. Both the civilian and the military knew who I was.

All of my limbs were still attached. But I couldn't move a thing. That would mean restraints. That's when I heard a voice from the past. A voice I hadn't heard since the closing days of 'Nam.

**Manhattan, New York.  
Offshore SHIELD Hellicarrier.  
May 04/2012**

* * *

"How long are you going to keep pissing me off by pretending to be asleep, Frank?"

Frank Castle opened his eyes slowly to an ugly sight. "Ugh. You got uglier in your old age, Nick."

"Cut the crap, marine. What the hell were you thinking taking out one of my men? Were you even thinking? Are you so far gone you don't even recognize one of your own anymore?"

"..."

"What the hell was that? Speak up damn it!" Frank could tell that Nick was furious. And he knew better than to make that stupid pun out loud. Nick was known for putting people in the hospital for making that stupid pun. Although he was already in the hospital. This might be his one shot at...nah. He was too old for that crap. Truth be told he was too old for it forty years ago.

"I said that young marine got the drop on me. If I didn't have the van booby trapped he would've gotten me. He's okay by the way. Just sleeping is all."

"I know he's okay. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this here conversation. Will you stop trying to break out of the restraints. That's pure leather coated adamantium. You're breaking it. Or the reinforced titanium bed frame. How did he get the drop on you anyway?"

"..."

"I don't have time for these stupid games Frank. Believe it or not I'm a very busy man..." Nick waited for Castle to repeat himself.

"I said I got old when I wasn't looking. I was so busy lining up my shot that he snuck up on me. He wasn't even trying to be sneaky. One minute I'm taking aim the next he's there pointing that Buck Rogers gun you guys pulled out of somewhere, and asking me, and politely mind you, to put my weapon down. I didn't have a choice, or the time to explain. A life was on the line. I had to make that shot count."

Nick grunted, "At least you still have your priorities straight. Tell me what happened?"

"You know more than I do. What do you want my version for?"

"I'm a curious man these days, Frank. Indulge me."

Frank shrugged, he was about to start his tale when he felt the stiffness of his limbs and face. His limbs he could understand. Why the hell was his face numb? "Why can't I feel my face?"

"I'll tell you later, now. Tell me what happened."

Frank shrugged. There wasn't much he could do at this point so he started telling his tale from the beginning.

Nick listened without interrupting him at all. When he was done, Fury got up. The door to the private ward opened and a beautiful SHIELD commander came in with a tray.

"They just finished the first batch. Are you sure about this sir?" she glanced at Frank when she said that.

"Yeah, Hill, I'm sure. Send in the nurse I want those bandages removed. I want to see his face."

"You're not going to recognize much, sir. His face will still be swollen from the operation."

"That will not be an issue, Commander Hill."

"Yes, sir." Maria Hill saluted and left the ward. She knew a dismissal when she heard it.

"What operation?"

"I'll tell you later."

A nurse came in and cut the bandages. She removed them gently, one-by-one. When she was done she put up a mirror across the bed.

"That'll be all, nurse." Nick was none too gentle with his dismissal.

For a second it looked like the nurse was about to challenge the top dog on the ship, but after a moment's consideration she decided against it. Rumors were flying and the message was clear. Fury's days were numbered. She'll choose a better battlefield than this one. She left walking slowly out of the ward with her dignity intact.

Nick opened the case and took out a vial. He filled a long needle with green twinkling contents and injected them into Frank Castle's arm. All the while he blocked Frank from looking into the mirror.

Frank looked at the needle as it left his arm. A burning sensation started from just below his elbow and quickly spread to the rest of his body. It burned, but he felt a lot worse in his time. He felt like his skin was about to burst.

It went on for what felt like hours, but couldn't have been more than a few minutes. When the feeling subsided he looked up and saw his reflection when Fury moved out of the way. The face that greeted him wasn't his own.

Frank wanted to scream, yell, shout his head off, but for some reason he kept his cool. "Why?" he simply asked.

"We were attacked and we were helpless. A town in New Mexico was destroyed by a single weapons platform. Since that day we've been scrambling to come up with a response. The Avengers was the result."

Fury explained the idea behind the Avengers. A first response strike team that was the main attacking force. SHIELD would be the follow up and reinforcement.

"You want me to be an Avenger? This is what this whole thing all about. Changing my face, what did you inject me with?"

"A variant of the Rogers Super Serum formula. After this you can call Steve Rogers a blood brother. Him and a guy called Bruce."

"Bruce? Bruce who?"

There was. Beep from Fury's comm. he glanced at it, "What is it Hill?"

"Mr. Stark and Director Harris are about to land."

"Show them to my office. I'm on my way." Gotta go Frank I'll be back, but before I go. What I want you for is the secret Avengers. The team that will handle all the dirty jobs the main team is too well known to handle. Are you in?"

"What about my war?"

"Frank the shit you'll be going after makes the sharks you usually swim with look like guppies. 'Sides what you do for a hobby is none of my business. Just don't bring your shit to my house. Now. Are you in?"

Frank looked at his new face in the mirror. "Yeah I'm in."


	23. Chapter 23

**Manhattan, New York.  
Offshore SHIELD Helicarrier.**

Punisher's War Journal  
May 04/2012  


I just had an offer I couldn't refuse. My old marine buddy from way back turned out to be a the spy in charge of SHIELD.

He wanted me to join one of his more secret teams. His incentives:

A) He wasn't going to either kill me out of hand for attacking one of his marines, which I would have understood by the way.

B) He wasn't sending me up the river to death row.

Both were pretty good incentives in my book. He was always a believer in negotiation from a position of strength.

I looked at the stranger in the mirror one more time. The scars from the face change operation had healed up before my eyes. At least he wasn't lying about the regeneration. I had already tested the restraints on the bed. The admantium held, but the titanium frame may have been bent, a bit.

I decided to look at the mirror again. Not much else to do, what with being 'stuck' in bed and all. That's when the mirror flickered and turned into a screen.

Stark and a man I recognized from the street battle, were standing in an office when the door opened and Nick Fury walked in.

Nick must have said something, because the young man sat down in one of the seats in the office. Stark stayed on his feet. I don't think the seats would have survived intact if he sat in them with the armor on.

The sound came on. Nick probably wanted his impressions later.

**  
Manhattan, New York.  
Offshore SHIELD Helicarrier.  
**

"Have a seat gentlemen. To what do I owe the honor of this visit? I was sure you'd be celebrating your victory over the aliens." he sat behind his desk, and pressed a button on one of the hidden control panels beneath the desk.

"don't look at me." said Tony Stark, "I'm just the driver."

"Yeah thanks by the way." Xander turned away from Nick and nodded to Tony.

"Don't mention it. Really! Don't mention it."

"What do you clowns want?" Nick had better things to do with his time than to listen to these clown test their stand up routine on him.

"That's kinda harsh Nick. Don't you think that was harsh Xander?"

"Meh. I've heard worse. I live with Faith after all. That girl can do harsh like no one else. If you want lessons Nick I can arrange something...cheap too."

"Nothing about you is cheap Harris. Now. What do you want?" his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"I don't want much. Will not even cost you one red cent it's so cheap."

Nick made with the give already gesture.

Xander gave him his shark smile number three. It helped that he had a bit of shark in him.

Tony shivered, but Nick was made of sterner stuff.

"I just want to know who?"

"Who, what?" Nick knew what the class clown wanted.

"No. Not what. Who? Who ordered a nuclear strike against two watcher teams, while they were engaged in an ongoing operation. Not only did they just throw the treaty of 1799 out the window. They were willing to kill my girls. I need to have few quite words with them. And Don't worry about the treaty. Rupert Giles and a team are willing to renegotiate the treaty. Wouldn't dream of leaving you without supernatural protection."

"No. If you want to renegotiate the treaty. That's fine. You have that right and truly I expect nothing less, but I am not giving you those names." Nick then pressed another button on his panel, and Commander Maria Hill's face appeared on the screen, "What is it Hill?" he asked, before she could speak.

"Sir?" she wasn't sure what her commanding officer wanted, so she just came up with something. "You're needed in the ward." she wasn't sure if that would fly, but then she didn't call him.

"Lord. Already?" with a tired sigh he got up, straightened up the papers on his desk made sure it was in a neat pile, and went to see a man about a decision. "I'll be right back. Don't make a mess if you can help it." he sneered.

Tony didn't believe he, they were being dismissed out of hand like that. He was never dismissed out of hand like that. Especially not when wearing the suit. Never been done.

Xander saw through the act. He let Tony be the distraction. He got up and walked around the office and glanced down at the papers that were, oh so neatly placed on a desk that otherwise had no other papers on it. Everything else he'd seen so far was digital. You couldn't run an organization the size and complexity of SHIELD using paper. He saw the list of names on the top paper. He mesmerized them in a glance. 'Gotta love that enhanced memory upgrade.' he thought. He recognized a few names on the list. Especially the general's. His grandfather's memories knew the man, he could very well see that man ordering a nuclear strike on a city of millions. He would see it as cauterizing the wound to save the limb. Par for the course. Oh he'd have the New Watchers Council intelligence division verify the names, but he was sure that he was looking at the right list. He made sure that anyone watching the video feed from this office would have a hard time figuring out what just went down.

Tony continued to provide the distraction and Nick was letting him. It was always nice working with someone who understood the realities and complexity of the game.

Nick saw that Xander got the information he was looking for and he really didn't have time for the Tony Stark show and his partner. Mainly Stark's ego. "I don't have time for this Stark. We can pick this up when I come back." he turned his back on the man and left the office.

"Hey. We're not done. You can't just leave..."

"Tony. Let him go. He obviously has to take care of something. If lives are on the line I'd rather wait a few minutes than have that on my conscious."

"...but this is just as important. I mean a nuclear strike against an American city is a big thing. He can't just walk away from that. Can he?"

Xander shrugged, "He did. Now we wait. Not like we don't have the time. 'Sides...not like he's getting away or anything. Where's he gonna go? It's his office after all." Xander sat back down. He grabbed some candy from the candy dish and put one in his mouth. "Say..." he sucked on the candy appreciatively, "...this is really good. Try some." he held out the rest of the candy to the distracted and confused billionaire. Xander shrugged when Tony ignored the candy. More for him. He wasn't about to let Nick hang out to dry after he was so nice, providing him with the names like that. These people must have really put the screws on. No wonder Nick gave them up so easily.

"What the hell am I missing?" Tony wasn't clueless. He was a very smart man, but something just went down and he had no idea what. He hated being left in the dark. Harris had better make with the sharing, or he was dropping him into the ocean on the way back.

**  
Manhattan, New York.  
Offshore SHIELD Helicarrier.**

Nick walks in to the ward where Frank was held. He was still looking at Stark and the Kid do their comedy routine.

Stark as the straight man was different. The man was too used to being the smartest man in the room. He knew he was being played. He just didn't know how.

He didn't care. His massive ego would survive and the power armored man was Harris's headache.

He knew that control of the Avengers had slipped from between his fingers, but that was alright too. Harris would do the right thing by the planet. He preferred to operate in the shadows. It's where he did his best work.

Frank would be the place to start and maybe recruiting a second team under SHIELD's control would be the way to go. To mask what went on behind the scenes. Enough talent had come out of the woodworks to work with. They wouldn't be as high powered, but they would do for the more common problems.

The main team would still be available for the bigger, badder and uglier threats. Fielding three teams was beyond what he envisioned, but then Harris and his accident gave him a few more options he didn't have before.

"What do you think?" he asked Frank.

Frank looked away from the screen, " That is one dangerous man."

"Who? Stark. I am not worried..."

"No, no. Stark's a fighter plane. You can see him coming from miles away. Gives a man time to prepare a proper welcome. It's the kid. What did you call him? Harris?"

"Yeah. Alexander LaVelle Harris. It's been a long time since he was the class clown. It's a mask that he wears often. It fools a lot of people. Who did you pick him?"

"It's the eyes. He's a man who's willing to get his hands dirty to get the job done. Besides, I saw the man fight. No mercy. Went straight for the kill. Sword, gun, whatever came to hand. That is one stone cold killer."

"If you had to go to war who would you rather have on your team. Him or Captain America?"

"Oh definitely him. This man has been to hell and back. No offense to Captain Rogers. He's a fine soldier, but that is one truly dangerous individual. By the way I'll need a copy of that list he was looking for."

"No way in hell Frank. Now are you in, or what?"

"I'm in. I'm not stupid. This crap you injected me with comes with a price tag. I'm no sure what it is just yet, but when the time comes to pay the bill, it better be something I can deliver. If you ask for more than I can give... We're going to have a problem."

"Don't worry. It's not gonna be something you haven't already done before."

"Now you really have me worried." he went back to looking at the screen, "What kind of organization does he have?"

"What makes you hunk there's someone behind him?"

Frank gave him a look that said, go ahead pull my other finger after the stink was already in the air. "You don't ask for the heads of an agency like SHIELD without someone behind you. I saw the girls that were fighting with this man. They looked like a group of sharks. Utterly merciless and as efficient a bunch of killer in a pretty package I could wish for. Well equipped and too much power behind them. That takes some serious organization and pull."

"You got that right. They fight the things that go bump in the night. They're the SHIELD of their world. When the shit comes down. They are probably our only allies for defending the world. If it's a domestic or even an international situation and we're I the wrong...let's just say they can be your worst nightmare. They're run by a bunch of idealists who have been to hell and back. They know the score, but they will not put up with bullshit from any government and few government who want their help will ever play them."

Like I said. A very dangerous man. Are you sure you can't give me a copy of that list. I won't say anything. Promise."

Nick ignored him. The council were no longer a concern Harris and his people will take care of the current roster. He just hoped their replacement were a little smarter.


	24. Chapter 24

**  
Manhattan, New York.  
Offshore SHIELD Hellicarrier.**

Punisher's War Journal  
May 04/2012

* * *

Fury wants me to be the leader of his secret avengers. The one good thing about it: no long johns. I would be the SHIELD agent in charge.

He gave me a list. Not the one I wanted, but my options were death row or knock off forty years, and super powers. He took away my option to say no by injecting me with that new serum they came up with and giving me the powers. The room I was held in had an event that involved cosmic energy, the same energy that created the Fantastic Four. That's dangerous enough on its own, but another even more mysterious energy was at play. The two together for some reason provided a stabilizing agent that healed and regenerated damages tissues and biological systems in general. Apparently one of the smuggled cats on board can now fly, walk through walls and in general was tough enough to take on a panther.

My own alterations weren't quite so severe. Nick ran me through a battery of test that they used on the super soldiers here. Strength was off the scale. Over the ten ton limit they had. My speed and reaction times were about half what I'd seen Spider-Man reach during the battle. That will certainly come in handy.

Tough enough to shrug off slashing and blunt force trauma. They didn't check to see if I could bounce bullets, but they figured low caliber wouldn't be a problem, higher would probably put me down. Maybe not down for the count, but definitely down until the regeneration kicked in.

I haven't noticed any other changes. Not that these weren't enough, but Fury, damn his evil black heart, had spiked the serum.

Dr. Bruce Banner, the Hulk. The man whose picture was in the dictionary, right next to the word: rage.

I don't do wild rage. Cold calculating rage, not a problem, but wild rage I give that a pass, thank you very much.

I would have another SHIELD agent as a member of the team. Together we would recruit the rest of the team.

Some guy, a scientist by the name of Pym figured out a way to make giant people, like that girl. Useful, but not too secretive.

I was thinking about getting that Moon Knight character. Mark whatever. Maybe even Frenchie, his pilot. The man stayed long enough to fire on everything before he left. The least I can do is check him out. Wouldn't hurt to have another option open besides SHIELD for transportation and support.

I saw my face in a reflective surface and it threw me off again. It would be a while before I was used to this unwelcome change. I understood Fury's reason. I just didn't agree with it. If I was to be a secret avenger, no one would know who I was. The whole thing was about deniability. I personified the meaning of the word deniability.

**Manhattan, New York.  
Coffee Bean.**

* * *

Peter sighed again. The girl on his back didn't care. She just mashed her breasts into his back even harder. "Tell me again why I let you come with me?" he asked.

"I want to talk to that red head friend of yours."

"Why?" he asked tiredly.

"Never you mind why. Just leave that to us girls. And you're so cute when you pout."

"I'm not pouting." He was pouting. "I am wearing a mask, you know. How can you tell whether I'm pouting or not?"

"It's a slayer thing." she shrugged. She was lying, of course; he couldn't call her out on it. She changed the topic. They couldn't question you if you change the topic on them.

Peter landed on the roof of the Coffee Bean. He was on his way here when the rip in space appeared over Stark Tower.

Julie reluctantly released her death grip and walked around to the edge. She jumped off and looked around. When she looked for Spidey he disappeared. He wasn't going anywhere. She had his scent. She could track him down if she had to. It would be hard to nail him down, even if she used a nail gun. He was that slippery. Slayer stamina was enough to outlast his spider stamina. She hoped by not too much of a margin. She'd need to build up his endurance once he was under her thumb, if he needed it.

She looked through the plate glass window and saw several customers. One of them was a gorgeous red head. She even recognized her. Mary Jane Watson. 'If that's the caliber of women he's used to, no wonder he's been able to resist me.' She sighed. 'I guess it'll have to be a threesome, with me as the odd girl out. This will be tougher than I thought. '

A young man of average looks walked up to her. She sniffed the air and asked, "What took you so long?"

"Hey, you try changing your clothes as quickly as I did and hop off the roof without anyone seeing you in New York City's busiest college neighborhood. By the way how did you know it was me?"

"Your scent. Come on let's get this over with. Mary Jane Watson isn't going to wait forever."

"I still don't know why I'm letting you do this."

"That's because you can't resist me. Come on." She grabbed his wrist and pulled him into the coffee shop behind her.

"I should be able to resist you. Why can't I? It's not like red heads are my kryptonite ya know."

Julie ignored him and pulled him in. She didn't know either. Didn't care. She got her Spidey and she was keeping him baggage and all. And oh boy what delicious looking baggage.

"Peter...who's your friend?" Mary Jane asked with a twinkle in her brilliant green eyes. She was holding in her laughter as the slim but busty young lady was pulling Peter helplessly behind her. If you knew Peter's night time and occasional daytime hobby like she did you'd laugh too.

"Uh Julie, M.J., M.J., Julie. She followed me home and she won't let go. Help?"

"Peter's such a kidder. Hi. Like he said I'm Julie, but that's like just my working name."

"Oh. Are you an actress or dancer or is it something like a stage name?" she noticed that the younger girl still hadn't let go of Peter's wrist. Like she was holding on to an unruly puppy about to bolt at the second he's released. Peter didn't look scared, and with his powers she didn't think there was much that could scare him anymore. She was still puzzled, and the other girl must have picked up on that.

"No. It's nothing like that. I'm in the same kinda business he's in, only more dangerous."

"What do you mean by 'more dangerous'? How can what you do be more dangerous than Doc. Oc?"

"Oh please. You fight an old man with a four extra mechanical tentacles. I fight tentacle demons. Do you know what tentacle demons to young sweet things like me?"

"You mean you're a super..." at Peter's harsh look she changed her sentence. "Duper girl like Peter? What kinda of, um action name is Julie?"

"It's a great name. Plus it's tradition. When your leaders are Buffy, Faith, Rona and Kennedy, you have to pick something like Julie, or Bobbi. Although Bobbi's name is Bobbi, but that's besides the point. Hi I'm Felicia Hardy. Nice to meet you."


	25. Chapter 25

Manhattan, New York.

The Coffee Bean Café.

"So how did the two of you meet?" M.J. was both curious and amused by Peter's young super friend. She thought that the obvious crush the young teen had on the oblivious Peter was cute.

"It was at the latest Apocalypse." Felicia took a sip from her huge mug of hot chocolate.

"It so was not an Apocalypse. It was just a minor alien invasion." Peter scoffed at thought that Felicia classed a battle with Aliens as an Apocalypse.

"It was so an Apocalypse. Did you not hear Xander explain what happened to Willow and Rona?"

"I did and at no point did the word Apocalypse ever came up."

"It so did. He called it that usual time of year when the big bads had a go at it. Made a play for the gold medal. He even said that a Mad God with an arrogant streak a mile wide was in charge. That so makes it an Apocalypse."

Mary Jane had to stifle her giggles. Felicia was one cute and passionate young lady. She did not want to make her feel uncomfortable. "Felicia..."

"Yes?"

"Why do you want to call it an Apocalypse?" M.J. added some more honey to her herbal tea and stirred the cup.

"Money."

"Money?" Mary Jane repeated.

"What does money have to do with anything?" asked Peter.

"Yeah. Money. And it so has everything to do with it."

"HOW?"

"Peter, calm down. There's no need to shout. We can both hear you just fine, tiger. Felicia?"

"I guess you need more of an explanation. Well for starters, like I said before I'm a slayer. And a Slayer was made by the powers to fight evil. She usually fought alone with a creepy old man to watch her ass. Half the time those old men did only just that: they watched and perved on the sweet young innocent maidens charged with protecting the planet..."

Peter pretended to play a violin and wiping his non-existent tears.

"Peter," admonished M.J. on the inside she was cracking up. This girl was hilarious. No wonder she liked Peter's alter ego. They were made for each other.

Peter stopped playing around.

"Anyway, before the adorable jerk stated to make fun of our tragedy..." M.J. put her hand over Peter's mouth to stop him from interrupting the story again.

"That's it, mister doubtful. No more Slayer history for you." Peter gave her the puppy eyes, and she relented, "Nowadays there are a lot more slayers than there are watchers. There are exceptions. Like Giles is Buffy's watcher – she's like the head slayer – and Xander is Faith's watcher – she's the second slayer chosen by pure fate alone. The rest of us were called when Willow did this funky ass spell that activated all the potentials worldwide, and has been doing so every year on the date she cast the spell. I'm not sure how that works, and I'm not curious enough to ask. I'm a slayer not a watcher after all. As we got organized there had been changes. Like slayers are paid a decent salary..."

"By whose standards?" asked Peter.

"I think we're payed like SHIELD agents plus the Apocalypse bonus..."

"Apocalypse bonus!" both Peter and M.J. Interrupted this time.

"Yeah. Like save the world from going to Hell or exploding or a world altering external invasion that would change our way of life as we know it, you get payed one hundred thousand dollars bonus per Apocalypse prevented."

"Can anyone apply for this bonus?" joked Peter.

"Yes." Felicia took another sip of the sweet chocolate-y goodness.

"You mean I could show up and apply for the bonus, mask and all, and they would still pay me?" Peter was so sure that his doubt was showing through.

"Yep. Just show up at the slay house. Someone will scan your aura to verify who you are and once that is done you're paid."

"Are you guys hiring?" he joked.

"I accept you as my watcher; done through a verbal contract by a slayer and the one who asked to be her watcher. Boy will you ever love the benefits package. The pay is nothing to sneeze at either." She took another sip. No wonder someone like Mary Jane came to a joint like this. This hot chocolate was fantastic. She took a fork and attacked her triple chocolate seven layer cake covered with a white chocolate sauce.

While Peter was choking on his coffee, Mary Jane looked on in envy. "I guess being a slayer means you don't have to watch your weight?"

"Oh yeah. One of the better noncombat perks. Every girl should have this perk, but you should see our food bill. Through the roof. Not like I care, mind you. The council pays for everything. Only the best for the slayers nowadays since the Scoobies took over. They really know how to take proper care of us. They fight by our side and they bleed with us and they party with us. They know what it's like. Pigging out and not having to worry about your figure... Best power on the planet ever."

The model agreed with her. She would do anything for a power like that. She hated starving herself to keep in shape for her job. "I wish I was like you and Peter not having to worry about gaining weight..."

"I'm with you sister. I wish you were like us too..."

"WISH GRANTED!"

The world twisted and the three of them screamed. All three were changed so that they could be just like the other. First Felicia become like Peter and then Mary Jane became like Felicia and passed it on to Peter so he could become like Felicia and Mary Jane.

Manhattan, New York.

Just Offshore.

Xander was hitching a ride with Iron Man. They were just off the shore of Manhattan. Xander could easily see the statue of liberty from this distance.

A sharp jolt hit him from nowhere. He suppressed the moan of pain, and in a few seconds the pain went away.

He could feel that something truly funky just went down. A couple of new slayers were activated and joined to the ethereal web that connected him to all active slayers, except for Buffy. One of the new slayers felt off somehow.

It came from the city in front of him. "Tony, can you please take me in that direction?" he pointed his finger towards the heart of the island.

"What's going on?"

"Something..." Xander didn't elaborate, but Tony could see that it took all of Xander's concentration to keep his finger pointed in the direction it was leading to. Tony moved from side to side to see what would happen, and was surprised to see that according to JARVIS the finger stayed on the same spot. Tony kicked it into overdrive and dove into the city following the finger. They landed in front of a café. The sign on the window read Coffee Bean.

Xander walked over and opened the door. Tony followed.

"Julie..." Xander looked around and narrowed his eyes when he saw the young man with her. He sniffed the air.

Peter felt a chill run down his spine. He recognized the action from earlier in the day when his 'grandfather' did it. Come to think of it Julie, or Felicia did the same. He took a sniff under his arm and almost choked on his own sweat. His sense of smell was never this strong. While he struggled to get his gag reflex under control, Xander smiled. It wasn't a nice smile.

"Kid, what the hell are you doing? Don't you know how dangerous she can be?"

Felicia threw her slice of chocolate supreme cake in retaliation. Xander caught it in his fist and took a huge bite. "Mmmmmm! Good!" he grabbed some paper napkins from an empty table and cleaned his hand and face.

Tony saw Xander talking to the Slayer that fought with them on the roof, the one who clung to Spider-Man like a limpet mine. "JARVIS please scan everyone sitting at that table." Tony was not a believer in the chaos theory. One plus one equalled two, and there was Julie the slayer plus the kid with the same build, weight, height, temperature and mannerism as Spider-Man in the civvies, who had to be Spider-Man. Otherwise why would a model of Mary Jane Watson's caliber would hang with the dweeb-y looking kid.

"Tony. Can you buy his place and I mean now?"

"Kid, I'm Tony Stark. I can do anything."

"Then do it. I need everyone out of here and you don't need the law suits."

"Okay. Done."

Xander forced himself to wait the few minutes it took for Stark's Lawyers to pull off the impossible. In reality they made a few calls. One team bought the entire block, and the other team made a play for the coffee shop. In both cases obscene amounts of money was thrown at the problem to get a quick result. When Tony gets the bill he would not be happy. It would also be a lesson to not let his arrogant mouth run away with his good sense. And yes he had a good sense, it was just not used much.

"All done. Folks, this location is closed for renovation. Please leave the premises until we reopen. NOW!"

Everyone scrambled to get out. When the café was empty, he said, "All yours." he gave Xander an elaborate bow.

Xander rolled his eyes, but ignored the snark potential. This was serious, "Julie, what did you do?" he asked calmly. He wasn't fooling anyone who knew him. And Felicia knew him. New York was a hotbed of paranormal disturbances and Xander was a frequent visitor to the slay house.

"Why are you accusing me? I didn't start anything."

"You're a probability magnet. Who else am I going to blame?"

"She's the one who made the wish. She's the one who was in awe of my ability to consume mass quantities of chocolate without guilt. She wished she could be like us."

"True, but you wished for the same thing, and that's when that woman's voice shouted wish granted." Mary Jane wasn't about to take the fall entirely on her own. She didn't know the man, but she remembered Felicia mentioning someone named Xander. So this, then, must be Xander. He wasn't so scary. Nuh uh. Not a bit. She shivered some more. Tony Stark, the Iron Man, was here. She went to one of his parties and even flirted with him. He would protect her. The thought didn't make her feel any better for some reason.

Xander heard a light, tinkling laughter. That apparently no one else did. When he looked around no one else seemed to notice. "Julie...What's the first rule about wishing?" he asked, instead of what he wanted to do. But he really couldn't bring himself to wring her neck. He was sure she didn't wholly deserve that.

"Umm...not to?"

"That's right. Good girl." Julie beamed at the praise. Apparently Xander wasn't as angry as he appeared.

"And why don't we say the W.I.S.H. word?"

"Oh. I know that one. 'Cause it's bad." she answered with a huge smile. The smile immediately died after she realized what she said, "Oh!"

"Yeah. Oh!" Xander took Julie aside to interroga...uh that is to say ask gently what happened, away from everyone.

The problem with that was that everyone involved had superior hearing and in Tony's case the suit plus the hearing.

Peter walked up to Iron Man and snapped picture. "For the Daily Bugle society page. Iron Man drops by a coffee joint...in his suit."

"JARVIS fry the memory on that camera and check for a Bluetooth connection, or any connection for that matter and make sure that's fried as well."

"Yes sir."

Peter's senses tingled and jumped out of the way of the highly focused invisible beam. "Hey!" he complained.

Another burst followed, this one was an all encompassing globe. No damage was done to any living organisms, but all unprotected electronic devices would have to be reset. "Sorry Spi..."

"Hey. Hey. Hey. Don't spill man. No one likes a spiller"

Tony looked around. There was Xander and the bombshell slayer, 'I wonder why all slayers have be so drop dead gorgeous. A male had to have been on he committee that made them. Nothing else makes any sense. It must be a requirement.' when he was finished looking, he asked, "Do you see anyone here who doesn't at this point know who you are?"

Peter did his own quick look and had to concede that he billionaire genius was right, that and no tingly feelings to warn him of any danger. "Man this is going to be way to expensive to replace. You fried everything. Even the stuff I took during the invasion. How the hell am I going to come with the rent? It's already a couple of weeks late.

"Maybe you should apply for that Apocalypse bonus Felicia was telling us about." Mary Jane was keeping an eye on Peter and Tony Stark and and ear open to eaves drop on this Xander and Felicia. If what just happened, happened then she would stand by the girl. The power to be able to consume chocolate like a pig, or Peter and Julie was so worth it.

"Apocalypse bonus?" asked Tony.

"Yeah. It's like this..." Peter and M.J. both started to explain about the bonus. From there it was a mix of Tony flirting with Mary Jane and Peter bombarding him with questions about his Arc technology. Some how during the conversation he gave up most of the information required to create a crude version of the device he made in Afghanistan. JARVIS stopped him before spilling all the beans, but he could tell it was too late. He concentrated on Peter and ignored M.J., but the longer he talked with him the worse it got. He tried to lead him down false path, but the inquisitive teen always chose the right path. It was like he had a sense that was guiding him. The kid was no slouch when it came to brain matter it seemed. "Kid how would you like a job? If you worked for me, I'll start you off with a seven figure salary."

Peter froze in place. "S-seven figures?"

"Yeah we can renegotiate after the first six month. What do you say?"

"NO! He's mine and you can't have him." Felicia was a blur as she attacked the armored hero poaching her man. "I hired him first. Go Look somewhere else you poacher." she slugged Iron Man as hard as she could.

Unfortunately for Tony the girl hit like Thor. The punch blasted him out of the glass front of the Coffee Bean and across the street.

"FREEZE!"

Felicia froze. "What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing?"

"You, you heard him. He was poaching my watcher."

"Since when?"

"Since we made a magical verbal contract that bound him to me as Slayer and Watcher."

Xander sighed. He really shouldn't be surprised. Reality tended to bend and twist around the girl.

Iron Man flew back in full of rage ready to pound the girl into the ground.

"STOP!" Xander channeled the full power of the Alpha into that command and it worked. Tony felt it right down to his bones. He could have resisted if he wanted, but this had better be good.

"Are you absolutely sure you want to destroy the building you just bought?"

"Good point." Tony calmed down instantly. Money was involved after all and according to JARVIS big money. Pepper would kill him if he had nothing to show for it. Besides, now that he was all calm and everything he really didn't want to throw down with a beautiful teen girl. The press would be just out if this world bad.

"how about this: you can hire the kid part time. That's allowed in the charter. Nothing says he can't take a second job. And as incentive this place has really good deserts. Julie how's the hot drinks?"

"Hmmmmm!"

That moan of pleasure almost made Tony come in his pants. The girl almost had an orgasm right then and there. That was enough for Tony to forgive her just about anything. It was only a small dent after all in his billion dollar suit.

"That good?" Xander asked Peter and his red headed friend.

"Oh yeah!" Mary Jane was not about to preform a Hardy met Sally moment in front of Tony Stark and the mysterious but obviously influential Xander. No matter what she would get out of it. She was not a prostitot and could not get away with t like Felicia.

"Tony...Tony!" Xander smacked the armored man to bring his attention back from the planet exotica, and back to the planet earth.

"Hn...what?"

"Welcome back. How about this. If this stuff is so good, that it has the power to melt a teenage slayer like that you might want to make a go of it. A chain like Starbucks. No Starbucks I've ever been too has had this effect in my slayer. They've come close a couple of times, but not to this degree. What do you say?"

Tony thought about it. If Xander was right then this would be one of the better ways to change his companies image, besides Starbucks made Beaucoup Bucks. This might recoup the obscene amount of money he just spent buying this place. "Let's talk some more. If this works I'll give you twelve percent..."

"Twelve? That's cheap Tony."

"A case can be made for fifteen if we clear a billion by this time next year."

"Fifteen? I don't think so."

"Yeah Mr. McScrouge. What are you trying to do cheating our Xander like that?" Felicia folded her arms underneath her ample chest and M.J. Copied the move.

The three males took a few seconds to reset there on switch before they recovered.

Tony was the first to recover followed by Xander. They had the most exposure to mind blastingly gorgeous women. Peter was a little slower, cause the women he hanged around with were nothing to sneeze at.

Tony and Xander made to leave and when the three, two of them new slayers didn't immediately follow, Xander stopped and looked back, "What? Do you need an invitation?"

Felicia squealed in delight. She grabbed both her future partners hands and ran after the man who was about to make them rich. "You're so the greatest Xander!" she jumped and hugged him. She just forgot to release the other two. It turned into a complicated huggey mess that Tony wondered how he could join?

"JARVIS make a note. I need to come up with a quick release option for the suit."

"Noted sir. The results from the scan are back. The three appear to be a combined hybrid of the Spider-Man and slayer we observed earlier today."

"Huh!" That can't be all good. Spider-Man was a proven wild card, but he didn't know about the other two, and what he saw of the girl Julie did not instill him with confidence.


	26. Chapter 26

****

Manhattan, New York.  
The Stark Tower. 

* * *

Xander watched as Riley and company took off from the launch pad. He and his slayers and their new significant others were sitting down for an after action report. After all the crap about the invasion was hashed over, it was time to check the team's status.

"Who wants to start?"

"I guess I'll go first. Thank you for not letting them put a muzzle on me by the way." Dawn was talking about what that quack Strange wanted to do. She shivered. "Okay. First the physical changes; I estimate that all of my previous performance marker need to be updated. I would say twice what they were before. I'm about the same level that Buffy was at during the 'Glory' days. Not sure if it's more, or less, but about that. Faith?"

"Yeah, I think we need to rewrite my whole book. I don't what the fucking spear did to me, but it sure as hell did a number on me."

"Don't worry Faith. I went through the same thing and so did Natasha. I have an idea what he did and why. You and I have been touched by the hand of chaos too many times for its liking. How are you doing Natasha?"

"Still adjusting, I'll let you know when I'm done chatting with this animated piece of OW!" Natasha grabbed her head as a spike if pain drove through her brain.

*YOU WILL SHOW RESPECT PRIMARY WIELDER!*

Clint jumped from his seat and rushed to his partner's side. He held her hand, "Nat are you okay?"

Natasha took a couple of deep breath as the pain leveled off. "I'll let you know when I do. What's the best way to get rid of this thing?" she asked holding up the spear still stuck to her hand.

Tony and Thor rushed in, drawn at the shout of pain.

"What's going on?" Tony asked.

Thor however saw and heard Natasha ask her question. "When Gungnir is returned to my father's hand, then all your pain will go away with the spear."

*IT IS AS THE HIER HAS SPOKEN!* Gungnir confirmed.

"How fast can we get to Asgard?" she asked Tony.

"Beats me? Trans-dimensional Portals aren't my strong suit."

"Don't look at me ." Bruce said next to Faith.

"It's okay Nat. We got you covered. We still have to send the Marx Brothers home after all. We just need to hitch a ride with them. That's all." Xander gave her a wink. His body language said trust me. It's no big.

Natasha had seen Xander and his people pull off a lot of scary crap. She'll give them the benefit of pulling it off until they either succeed, or fail; although she didn't like owing them this much. They were talking about going to another dimension on her behalf. That kind of support was going to be hard to pay back.

Steve rushed in with Sharon by his side. "What happened?" he saw that no one was injured and that nothing was destroyed since he saw them last.

"Natasha pissed of the spear and the spear did his pain through the skull trick. Not fun. Xan you haven't felt what this asshole thinks is the right amount of persuasion if it thinks it's losing' an argument...zap."

"I get it, it's 'back to sender' as soon as possible. Willow should be just about done. We'll just do a short trip to Asgard and be back before you know it."

"How are you going to do that?" everyone looked at Steve. "I mean we all ruled out that the Cube...egg. Tesseract..." Steve became flustered, but he continued on. "... Not enough energy you said."

"The cube isn't the only way to make portals Steve." Sharon told him.

"It isn't? But you said that you're locked in this form and can't do it either."

"Oh sure, I'm locked..." she pointed at Dawn, "...she isn't."

"Wait. Dawn can open Dimensional Portals?"

"Well duh' of course she can. She's the..." she got hit in the face by a pillow thrown across the room by a pissed off Dawn.

"What did we talk about with the sharing of other people's secrets?" she asked.

"But it's Steve?"

"I don't care if it's the Pope! No sharing!"

All the non Scoobies were looking at Dawn, except for Thor, and if the Lady Dawn didn't want her secrets known, then he would not go against her wishes.

"Alright, let me get this straight. You have the ability to open Portals to other dimensions, then why did Loki go after the Tesseract in one of the most secure bases on the planet?"

"Because he only had the key to the other side of the Tesseract and didn't know about Dawn." Clint explained.

"That makes sense when you think about it..." Bruce was interrupted by Logan as he staggered into the room a bottle of half drunk, and very expensive two hundred year old scotch in one hand and high octane rum in the other. The rum was mostly gone.

"Is that...you found my stash. Didn't you? I don't care about the rum, but you'd better put down the two hundred year old scotch." Tony didn't care about the rum. It was good rum, but easily replaced the scotch, not so much.

"...Oh yeah? What are you, hick, going to do about it?" he asked while he swayed from side to side.

Tony closed the face plate and zipped next to the near immortal mutant. He knelt down and grabbed him by his ankle and started to twirl him around like a cowboy twirls a rope. He then flew through the same hole smashed by the Hulk when he smashed Loki through the roof.

The heroes walked quickly to the balcony. They saw Iron Man doing loops dragging the flailing mutant behind him.

While they were watching the show outside, the elevator slid open.

"Welcome back, Miss Potts." JARVIS told her as she stepped through the sliding doors.

"Thank you JARVIS. She stopped abruptly as she saw the colorful people on the balcony. She recognized most of them from the battle she saw on the news.

"Hi Pepper. Welcome back." Phil went over to help her with her luggage.

"Hi Phil, I see we have a full house. Where's Tony?"

Phil pointed outside. "Someone found his secret stash of booze. He's making a point." he pointed up.

Pepper walked over, and joined the gathered warriors. Natasha greeted her with a thin smile. "Hi Pepper."

"Natasha..." she replied absently. She was captivated by the sight of Tony dragging an unknown man by the ankle all over the New York skyline. "...That's not good. I'd better alert the PR department. That's going to be hard to sell..."

"Ewwww!" Xander interrupted, and Clint agreed.

Clint looked down and saw an unlucky civilian get splattered by Logan spewing chunks all over creation. "Hey. Isn't that J. Jonah Jamison?"

Pepper sighed. "Wonderful. Just freaking wonderful." she could see the law suits lining up.

**Manhattan, New York.  
The Stark Tower. **

* * *

Tony dragged Logan behind him, back to the Tower. He threw the queasy mutant roughly at one of the larger leather couches.

Steve moved quickly to intercept the mutant before he hit the couch. He put him gently down, and looked angrily at the thoughtless Billionaire. "Why?" he demanded.

"That's harsh man, all that for a bottle of scotch. Take it from me if you're that far gone you have a drinking problem." Xander looked closely at Tony's face. He didn't see any evidence of alcohol abuse. That didn't mean anything. With his new regenerative powers all physical disabilities would be fixed. "Dude I can prove to you right now, that right there is proof positive of what alcohol poisoning can do to you." he pointed at the still sick Logan, who took his queue and spewed chucks all over the couch, himself and the floor. "That man has the regenerative ability of the gods themselves..." he then looked at Thor and the struggling Loki rabbit in his grip. "...maybe even better and look at him drunk as a skunk..." Xander paused and looked at Logan again. "...it doesn't make sense. Why would he drink like that? It never effected him this badly before. Say Cap. Wasn't Jimmy with you guys?"

"..." Steve stayed quiet and closed up.

To Natasha however he was an open book. His body told her that he was protecting somebody. Since The neo human Sharon was the only one with him it wasn't hard to figure out who?

The girl in question walked softly up to Steve. She gently touched his bicep. Steve looked at her. She let him know with her eyes that it was alright.

"It's my fault. When he and Steve were catching up, he kept having these blank spots in his memories. I felt something was off with him so I reached in and corrected the imbalance. All of his memories returned at once and he started to growl like an animal. Steve got between us and a minute later he stopped growling. He then said 'Shouldn't have done that darlin', I wanted my memories back, but not like this.' his voice was full of pain and anguish. I tried to help him, but both he and Steve stopped me. He left us. Steve has been asking me all sorts of questions ever since."

Xander that Sharon was afraid of the consequences of her actions, and so she should. However she was also family. "I understand you're new to this crazy thing we call life Sharon, but memory manipulation is one of the worst places to start spreading your wings. I know you're scared. But in a crazy way you're family. When a family member makes a mistake, we try to get them help. We've learned from our past mistakes and we're better equipped to guide you through the rough spots, but for the love of all that's holy, will you please stop playing with people. Some of us break a lot more easily than others.

"Okay." she said quietly. She was reassured by his smile and she felt the truth in his words.

"That doesn't mean you're off the hook. Dawnie, in a way Sharon is your daughter. You're going to have to see her through the rough spots. We'll all help, like I said she's family. Flesh and blood."

"It's always about the blood." Dawn sighed and the rest of the Scoobies agreed. Its always been about the blood.

"Are you telling me I just bullied an innocent man who was mind raped?" Tony asked.

"Yeah Tony, why?" Pepper's quiet voice did what Cap's harsh demand couldn't.

"I was saving that bottle for us Pepper. I wanted to use it for a special occasion I had in mind..." Tony stopped. He already said too much.

"Man don't wimp out the bottle's already open and it's still half full." Faith took a sip and showed everyone in the room the bottle. "Whoooo. Man this is good shit. The half-pint knows just how to drown his pain. Now go on 'Packmate' don't you dare chicken out, or I'm so kicking' your ass if you do."

"What's this about a 'Packmate'?" Pepper asked. She wasn't sure what the very attractive burnet was saying. Since she was sitting in Dr. Banner's lap she wasn't worried about any sexual complications. Still...

While Tony struggled to explain the concept of the barley understood 'Pack' concept to Pepper with a little bit of help from Xander, Willow felt an impulse to check on Logan.

As she examined the mutant, Loki was trying to get away from his brother. He was also doing a credible imitation of Taz, the Tasmanian Devil. "Loki! Cease thy struggles!" Thor demanded from the forcibly transformed cartoon character.

"What's wrong with him?" Faith sashayed over, drawn by the struggling Loki rabbit.

"I do not know Valkyrie Faith. Something has disturbed him greatly in the last few minutes." Thor explained.

"I wonder why? Hmmm..." she rapped her knuckles on the rabbit's head, stopping its struggling form. "What's up Tricky-Dickie?" she asked.

The rabbit glared. The muzzle stopped him from voicing his displeasure.

"Oh, right. The gag. Hold on a sec. Phil!" she shouted. She knew that Red put that gag on when she started losing the snark contest, she however was made of sterner stuff. She could dish with the best of them.

"You bellowed, Faith?" he asked sarcastically. Of course she bellowed, but for some reason it just felt right to tease the dark haired slayer.

"You bet your ass I did. How the hell do you remove the gag?" she asked.

"Hmm. This looks like it's from of Tony's private collection. Note the high tech gizmos built in." he explained.

"Just turn it off, or whatever you jerk. You you're not as funny as you think."

"I don't know. He sounds like a jester to me."

"Thor...did you just crack a joke?" she asked.

"Yes I did." Thor smiled amused by her antics.

"Take my advice. Don't quit your day job." Phil had pressed a couple of buttons and removed the high tech gag.

'Only Stark.' he thought.

"Say. How come you know how to use that thing if this is from Playboy's stash?"

"Faith I'm a spy. We know these things." he gave her an over the top sigh that was pure Xander.

She could help it. She giggled in spite of herself.

Phil smiled indulgently at her.

"Alright Pinky. What's your problem?" she asked.

"THAT BITCH WITCH..." Faith slapped her hand over his mouth.

"Excuse me. But are you trying to get your ass killed?" she asked the pissed off rabbit. "What's the problem anyway Pinky..." she had a hilarious though, " she didn't..." she grabbed the pink rabbit and pulled her pants down. Yep. It was as girl.


	27. Chapter 27

****

Manhattan, New York.  
The Stark Tower. 

* * *

"Oh wow!" Willow was awed. Mother was tricky. Xander ever attuned to his Willow heard her.

"Excuse me, please." he told Pepper. He walked over to Willow, "What's up Wills?"

"He's just like you." she pointed at Logan in wonder.

"How's he like me? He's hairy. I'm not. He's short. I'm not. He's..."

Willow raised her hand. Xander stopped his rant; the smile on his face told her he wasn't serious. "He's an 'Anti-body for the Mother, just like you and through you the 'New Pack' these Avengers of yours." she explained.

"I'm an 'Anti-body'? Since when?"

"Since the trip to the zoo. Remember what Giles said back then. It was a spiritual possession, not demonic."

"Why didn't anyone ever tell me?" he was miffed.

"Hey! I just got the memo now. What do you want? An announcement with flashing bells and whistles? I told you as soon as I figured it out." she was peeved her Xander was being such a Xander.

"Why now?"

"What do you mean why now? I just told you I figured it out a couple of minutes ago."

"Figured it out, or someone in a green dress dropped a hint."

"What are you implying? Take that back you meany."

"Nuh uh. Call home to Mother and find out." he demanded.

"No!" she used her resolve face. She gasped. Xander had used his resolve face to counter. 'He never uses his resolve face, well except that time he wanted that Twinkie, but they were six and he had held the rest of my Barbie collection hostage until I capitulated.' she had learned early on, never get between Xander and a Twinkie. She would never like the outcome. "Okay." she said quietly.

Xander nodded and waited. He didn't gloat. He never gloated the few times he made her back down.

Willow sat down on the couch beside Logan. She absently caressed his hair. It was both soft and wild. It made reaching the Goddess easier. It made sense. He was one of her agents in a way. When she made the connection her senses were assaulted by a multitude of images and ideas. She was being told what was, what is, and what will be.

When she came out of the trance, she fell sideways on top of Logan. Xander was instantly by her side, as were Dawn and the Slayers.

"Wills..." Xander's voice was full of worry and concern for her well being. She gave him a strained smile to say that she was okay. She wasn't. Physically, no problem. Mentally, oh boy.

Xander wasn't buying. Just as she could read him like an open book, so could he. He read her and knew she was worried.

"Gimme' a minute to catch my breath. She threw a lot at me , all at once. She's never done that before." Xander agreed and using the Slayers silent language told his team to give them some breathing space. Faith and Bobbi did just that, but Dawn stayed by his side. Willow didn't mind.

Using the silent code, she began her tale, "Mother showed me glimpses of what was, what is, and what will be. Everything we've been through up to this point was to make us stronger. The invasion in a way was your graduation. You're ready to go out on your own and gather some badly needed information." she pointed at Thor. "In a way it's all his fault." she accused the Thunder God.

"My fault? Would the Lady explain her reasons for such a blatant attack?"

"Mother needed a way to get the ball rolling and she reached out to you her son to start the whole thing. The thing between you and your brother was a part of it. It would has eventually played out the same, but she took advantage and made it happen earlier, faster, nastier."

"Why? Why would my Mother do such a thing?" he demanded.

"Survival." she said quietly. "Hers, yours, ours; a lot of scary shit is coming to town, some of it already started, and it's about to get a lot worse before it calms down. Mother used her 'Anti-bodies' and made sure they were ready. She tested all of you under the heat of battle. Like a blade forged under extreme heat, and cold. You passed the first round. Are you ready for what's coming? Oh stop that." she told Loki. "If you promise to hold your tongue I'll remove the curse." she promised.

Loki nodded his head without saying a word. He could always get back at the witch once he was free.

Willow twitched her fingers and bright twinkle-y stars covered the rabbit. When they were used up, the rabbit was still there. Loki was fit to burst. He gathered his will and forced the change back to his original shape. This time there was no resistance. The witch had tested his mettle again. She was toying with him. However be held his peace. She had made her point. He would not offend a God, or in this case a Goddess in the making, in her own domain.

"Why did my Mother do this?" Thor demanded again.

"Because she had to. And you are her champion. Are you not?" she pinned him down with her gaze. He had the sudden urge to croak for some reason. He too held his pease. He didn't want to be known as Thor, the frog of thunder. Because he could tell that was the road he was traveling on if he kept up this method of belligerent questioning of his Mother actions. The Avatar would explain in the fullness if time. He would not antagonize her needlessly. He also felt she might be key in getting him and his brother back to Asgard. Thor kept his own council for now.

Willow saw him back off and gave him a graceful out, "Your Mother needed you, and you came. For that you have her love.

Thor acknowledged the message. He grabbed Loki and pulled him out of the grand if slightly damaged chamber.

When the two Asgardians were gone, Willow went back to Xander. "Anyway, your friend here is out of balance." she looked at Sharon, "Honey, please no more playing with other people's memories until I've had a chance to show you how it's done properly, and more importantly, when, promise?"

Sharon reluctantly said, "Yes ma'am."

"Good girl." Willow gave her a bright smile to show that she approved of her. "We need to get him rebalanced as soon as possible. He's important to the Mother and to you."

"He's one of gramps' friends, and he's an okay guy, but why's he so important?" Xander got along with most people he met, but he was curious about the mutant's importance.

"He's almost immortal. He'll be one of Gaea's champions for a very long time, as will the rest of us." she waved her hand to include most of the people around her.

"Enough with the delays. Playboy propose to the girl already. I want another shot of this fine scotch, and I can't do that if you back down." Faith growled.

"Playboy?" Pepper was amused. "Just what have you been up to while I was away?"

"Hold it Red Hot. Until you get your brand on him he gets a pass for today."

"Red Hot. Do you have labels for everyone too? And why Red Hot?" Pepper asked.

""You got it. Willow's Red Tree, Dawn's little D., Xander's Boytoy..."

"Ha ha ha, why Boytoy?" she asked.

"He's my 'Boy, and he makes a fine 'Toy' if you know what I mean?" she was dripping lechery when she gave Xander the up and down treatment.

"What about me? Are you dropping me so soon. Not even a date." Bruce smile to show he wasn't serious. The Hulk might consider the spitfire his mate, he was still in love with Betty. And since she was airing out the dirty laundry, this was the best time to find out what's what?

"Are you asking to join our group Brucie?" she teased.

"Is there room for one more?"

"Sure. Got anyone in mind?"

"Yeah I do. A girl, her name's Betty Ross. She risked a lot for me over the years, and I love her." he explained quietly.

"Cool. She a looker?" Faith wanted to know. This may be a Pack thing, but a girl had standards. Not high standards, but standards just the same.

"Oh yeah."

"Then bring her on by."

"Might as well what I need to do can then include her if she agrees." Willow added.

"What are you planning Wills?" Xander asked.

"Not so much me as who I work for."

"Last time I checked we worked for the same people." he told her.

"Yep. What I said." she confirmed.

"Wills...out with it."

"I told you. Mother got plans and in order to rebalance her champion he needs to join a pack, his family, if one's available..."

"His grandson was fighting with us. Spider-Man. Julie hooked up with him and she just tricked him into becoming her slayer. She then did this combined wish with Spider-Man's friend and now we have ourselves for the first time in history a male slayer."

"Wow. I wonder what Mother has on D'Hoffren? Anyway I've already checked him out. He's a Spider Primal so he'll do fine. Normally I don't like combining totems, but for some reason Mother wants it this way. Call him over. Looks like they'll be joining the 'Party' and as for you two..." she pointed at Tony and Pepper, "Unless she's part of the pack she's gonna have problems."

"What's this 'Pack' about?" Pepper asked the other Redhead in the room.

"Come on. I'll fill you in." Tony told her, "He saw Xander pull out his cell phone, it was an odd piece of tech he wasn't familiar with, "Might as well put that away. I doubt any Cell Towers survived the..."

Xander held up a hand to Tony while he talked with Julie, "That's right. Are the three of you still at the Coffee shop...great. I'm sending someone over right away...uh hn, yeah okay..." he disconnected the call and turned back to Tony, "What's up?"

"That a Sat-Phone?" he asked.

"Nope. Sat-Phones aren't all that reliable in a disaster area. This is an in house brand." Dawn was the one who provided the explanation.

"Who's the designer? And how does it work?" he asked as he held out his hand for Xander to pass the phone over.

"Designer's little ol' me." replied Willow.

"It uses the Ley line net that covers the planet. It's slow to make the buggers without a factory, every piece is made by hand, 'sides, I doubt they'd work if they were mass produced.

Tony studied the 'Runes and Swirls on the inside of the phone's casing. He saw that it had a water-proof seal and the case was pretty tough.

"This really works?" he asked intrigued. This was something he understood.

"Yeah, it's a bit of magic tech we're playing with. Why? Are you interested?" she asked.

"...I guess I am..."

"Could you be interested after you come back from picking up the kids from your new Coffee shop?" Xander asked.

"Now?"

Xander shrugged, "Looks like this might be one of those deals that gotta be done right away...Bruce have your lady friend get ready for pick up as well, if she's interested in joining you. C'mon people hop to it." Tony gave Xander back his phone and flew out, back into the devastated city.

"So. About this 'Pack' deal..." Pepper asked Xander.

He patted the seat next to him, and she walked over and joined him. Bruce made his call and Faith eavesdropped on Phil and Natasha. Looked like their boss was giving them a hard time.


	28. Chapter 28

**  
7:12:21 P.M.  
May 04/2012**

Manhattan, New York.  
The Stark Tower. 

* * *

Happy Hogan and Colonel James Rhodes had come up in the elevator together. Happy wanted to tell Pepper that everything was put away. He wanted to know if she needed anything before he turned in, and Rhodey wanted to talk to Tony about what went down today. His bosses had put him on the fastest transport available. They made sure he left the War Machine Power Armor behind. They were not paranoid, not at all.

Tony looked at Pepper and she nodded her head. She agreed with Tony. Happy and Rhodey were family. It wouldn't feel right if they didn't stay a part of their family. They both communicated with each other using their eyes and facial expressions. Faith had seen them from the other side of the penthouse suite and she was having a tough time holding in her laughter. Julie saw her holding her sides and was curious enough to ask, "What's up?"

Faith pointed at Stark and Pepper. Julie followed her finger and saw the two making faces at each other.

"..." Julie was about to make a comment, but something caught her eye. "Huh..."

"Huh, what?" Faith had managed to get herself under control. 'All these Avengers people are hilarious.' she thought.

"Does that look like a crude form of the code to you, or what?" Julie was studying the pair more closely.

Faith joined her, and after a few minutes she had to agree. Bruce was still hugging the Betty chick, and Dawn, Willow and Xander were explaining to all parties what they should expect. Bobbi was keeping Clint distracted, or he, her. Whichever. Natasha and Phil were still talking to their boss. They never raised their voices, but the intensity got pretty heavy several times. Usually it was associated with a name, like the Rhino, The Beetle, Electro and Sandman. She wasn't sure what kind of code names those were, but every time one was mentioned, either Phil, or Natasha got really intense with their replies. A couple of times when she heard Electro, both of them got pissy. She wasn't sure who, or what these code names meant, she just didn't have to deal with the fallout when anyone of them became a problem. Specially that Electro dude. If it was enough to piss off both Phil and Tasha, he had to be pretty bad. Maybe Julie would know. She was a New Yorker after all. "Say Julie, do you know anything about Rhino, Beetle, Electro and the Sandman?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Do you know them, or not?" Faith showed a bit of her temper, just enough to let Julie know that she wasn't kidding.

"Okay. Jeez ask a silly question..."

"Jules..." the growl was unmistaken this time.

Julie raised her hands to show her surrender.

Faith made with the 'Gimme' sign.

"We'll start with the Rhino. He's some kind of ex-east block spy or something. He was part of their super soldier program. Very strong, very fast and extremely stupid. I'm not if that was a result of the experiments he went through or if he started out that way. He's mostly one of Spidey's regular sparing partners, but he went against your new Boytoy a time or two. Got his butt kicked, but ya gotta give him credit, he keeps trying."

"What about this Electro dude?" Faith asked.

"Again, he's another one of my Spidey's bad guys. This one is a real nut job though. Used to be a line man for Con Ed. There was some kind of accident, but instead of frying like the Colonel's best he got turned into some kinda of Electrical Elemental. Think Thor, but without the Hammer, and not as Strong."

"So we got a Hulk wanna be, and a guy that throws lightning around. Why am I not liking where this is going?" she waved for Julie to continue, "The Beetle."

"Abe Jenkins. A jack of all trades pretty handy with the tech. Again not a favorite of Spidey's. Keeps trying to kill him for all the times my guy sent him to Rykers. He built himself a suit of power armor, not as good as Stark's but not bad either. Could have made millions if sold the design to someone like Justin Hammer, but the problem with the guy is that he thinks like a small time hood."

"Three for three. The Sandman..."

"The closest I'd categorize the guy is an Earth Elemental, only with sand. He was trying to escape from prison and got caught in this radiation experiment/accident that tore him apart molecule by molecule I'm not sure where the sand comes in, but if you ask Spidey he'll tell you all you need to know."

"You really know this stuff. Is something any New Yorker would know?" Faith was impressed by the younger slayer.

"Nah. I'm a Spidey fan-girl. Long before I became a Slayer. Did you know my guy got his powers at thirteen?"

"He tell you that?"

"Nope. Figured it out on my own." she looked at him and Mary Jane, "I'm one lucky girl." she sighed.

Faith smiled, "How do you figure?"

"Well, just look at him..."

Faith looked. She saw a very well built man in spandex. His outfit left nothing for the imagination. "I see what you mean. The 'Spandex Set' really don't have anything to hide."

"Like Mary Jane's models panties and bras. Let's just say she knows how to use what god has gifted her with. As for Spidey's grandfather, he's like over a century old and look at him. He's still a hottie."

Faith couldn't argue with that. She just smiled at the younger slayer and gave the little horn dog the thumbs up. She was gonna need them.


	29. Chapter 29

**7:54:36 P.M.  
May 04/2012**

Manhattan, New York.  
The Stark Tower. 

* * *

"Willow had finished placing everyone in their positions. There was an additional two to the eight. Buffy Summers and Rupert Giles. These two had teleported over to discuss with Xander, Willow, Dawn and Faith their options for dealing with the rogue elements on the SHIELD council. The ten linked hands in the center on Xander. They formed a wheel by putting the other hand on the shoulder of the person to their right.

Behind each person stood a member of the 'Pack'.

Tony behind Pepper.

Captain America behind Colonel James Rhodes.

Phil behind Happy Hogan.

Natasha with the spear in one hand and the other on Mary Jane.

Faith behind Julie.

Bobbi behind Betty.

Clint behind Logan.

Bruce behind Peter.

Phil behind Giles.

Dawn behind Buffy.

Willow hovered above Xander.

She gathered her energies. From Xander she took the link to the 'Pack' and from Dawn she took the green energy of the Key. From her Goddess she gathered the energy of the Earth.

Thor kept Loki away from the room on another floor of the Tower.

The ritual started slow and built in intensity until it reached the apex. At near the culmination point the spear saw an opportunity to expand its sensory network. It slipped a bit of the Asgardian DNA string into the energy being absorbed by everyone involved in the ritual. Not enough to over-balance the results intended, but enough to expand its sensory range.

When the Ritual was done everyone was overflowing with health and vigor.

The only exception was Willow. She fell unconscious. From beneath her Xander caught her before she hit the ground. He quickly examined her for any obvious injuries, but found none. "Dawn..."

"Put her down on the couch." Dawn pushed Xander out of her way; she was joined by Giles in her examination of the red haired witch. After a few anxious minutes, Buffy couldn't stand it any longer.

"What's wrong with her?" she wrung her hands with worry over her oldest female friend.

"Buffy, please. This is a very delicate procedure. Do not disturb her until she has completed everything she must check." Giles went back to looking over Dawn's work. 'She has truly come along her chosen path. Not many can do what she's capable of doing at her age.'

Dawn finished her examination, "She's alright, exhausted, but alright." she frowned.

"What is it?" Xander asked her.

"She shouldn't be. Exhausted that is. She knew what she was doing and this was on a lot smaller scale. She shouldn't have been affected like this..."

"That's because this...thing, decided to meddle." Natasha held up her hand with the attached spear. Natasha cocked her head to the side as she listened to the spear, "He says, he saw an opportunity to expand his sensory network and he took it. We're nothing more than a means of carrying him back to his Master." she explained.

"Hey Nat..."

"Yes Faith?"

"Are you attached to the oversized prick?"

Natasha raised her eyebrow, and then her hand, with the new spear attachment.

"So not what I meant."

"Then what is your point Faith?"

"If you have a chance to send him on his merry way, would you take it?"

"In a heartbeat. But I am not leaving him unattended while he's on our planet. He's a disaster in the making."

"I thought so. Boytoy, when we send Thor and the pain in the butt back home, looks like they'll have an escort."

Xander looked at Faith and was about to reply, when a groan from Willow drew his attention away. "Wills, are you okay?"

"Uhn. Did you get the number of that truck?" she asked as she slowly came around. Buffy helped her sit. Less than a minute later her newer and more than recently improved body recovered from the energy depletion her body just went through. Doing the ritual was a piece of cake. Making sure the DNA strand that the spear inserted near the end of the ritual took everything she had to make sure nothing would hurt her old and new family.

"Ya know what Faith I can guarantee that, that thing is so going back. Dawn, and you too Sharon. Come with me. Giles would you like to join us?" she invited her surrogate father to join them. "Xander could you please track down Thor and his brother. It's time they were on their way home, and Stevie, could you please be a sweetie and bring the cube with you. The rest of you please pardon us, but we have a pair of trouble makers to send on their way home."

"So Buffy. I hear you're a grandmother now. How's that working out for you?"

Dawn and Sharon looked at each other and shuddered as Buffy screeched at being called a granny by Faith. They followed the fuming slayer and witch, while Xander went to get the Asgardians.

"I thought Thor was a good guy?" Peter asked.

"He is." Tony replied. He took the opening to get the kid alone so he could recruit him properly. The R&D facilities in the tower would blow the kid away, Bruce liked them, and he was sure a kid about to graduate from E.S.U. Wouldn't stand a chance. "C'mon. I'll explain in the way."

"Can we come too?" Julie grabbed M.J.'s hand and gave him her best sexy pose.

Tony's mind shutdown as little Tony took over. Pepper well used to what made her man tick gave him a quick flick on the ear to reboot him. "Thanks."

"It's what I live for." she told him. He's Tony and not much is gonna change that. Just gotta know how to train him properly. And she had been doing that for years. She wasn't about to lose all that work, just because a few nubile young things were thrown into the equation. 'Sides she's not really serious. I saw how she was all over the Parker kid.', "Those who want a tour, let's go. Looks like everyone else is gonna be busy for a while."

Phil watched as the Tony and Pepper show left the Penthouse. He took out his communicator and went up to Logan, "Sir. Mr. Fury would like to speak with you."

The moment Phil said Mr. Fury, a lot of memories associated with the man flooded into his head. He now knew exactly who Mr. Nick Fury was. He held out his hand silently and Phil handed over his communicator and left the room.

**11:42:26 P.M.  
May 04/2012**

Manhattan, New York.  
Jake's Bar, Midtown.

* * *

Aleksei Mikhailovich Sytsevich better known as the Rhino to His crime associates was drinking with his bodies. The booze was on the house. He and the rest of New York's super powered malcontents were celebrating their victory over the aliens.

Aleksei Mikhailovich saw her right away. The booze had not had enough time to dull his enhanced stamina. The Black Widow just walked into a bar. The joke of many a night with his fellow soviet super soldiers. She was never destined for the likes of them. She was the darling of the sons of the party members.

However as they started to die off, and she kept on going, hope sprang in his heart as he survived along with her. Before he could make his move, she disappeared. Never to be heard from again. And here she was the beautiful assassin he dreamed of every night. No wonder he recognized her right away.

She looked around the bar. Their eyes locked, hers narrowed and his widened. Never a good thing, if he was her target. She walked straight towards him. Everyone got out of her way. Maybe the spear in her hand had something to do with that, but he didn't think so.

"Aleksei Mikhailovich you will come with me." she said quietly in Russian.

"What if I, I d-don't want to come?" he asked fearfully.

She put her soft, silky smooth hand gently to his cheek. He froze in place. The hoods around him cheered and patted him on the back congratulating him on getting the attentions of such a fine woman.

Her hand went up to his ear and twisted. Viciously. "That was not a request." she said using the same gentle voice, still in Russian. "Come!" that was an order that could not be denied. She led him to the back, into an undamaged booth. "Sit!" she ordered.

"Wh, what do you want with me?" he asked.

"As of three hours ago. Your entire family all one hundred and twenty eight of them from the oldest crone to the youngest babe, has been removed from the old country and as we speak they are on their way to a small city I own in New Jersey. There, they will. E provided with jobs, housing, food and medical treatments that they have never had access to before. They will be taken care of from now until the day they die. For that I require you to follow every command I or my sub-commanders will give you. If you disobey, you will never see any member of your family again. If you are a good soldier, and obey every command given. You and your entire family will be generously provided for. You will want for nothing. All I ask is you obey me. What is your answer?"

"You mean I have a choice?"

"Of course you have a choice. The price of that choice depends on the decision you make." at no point during the entire discussion did she ever raise her voice. She had a gentle loving smile on her face the entire time.

"I am your slave. You will make sure that all of my family will be taken care of?" he asked.

"You have my word. Come Aleksei Mikhailovich. There people you must meet." she got out of the booth, and headed for the door.

Clint nodded to her in greeting as he made his way in. "Jenkins?"

She pointed with her chin at Abe Jenkins.

Clint smiled and walked in like he owned the bar.


	30. Chapter 30

**11:49:21 P.M.  
May 04/2012**

**Manhattan, New York.**  
**Jake's Bar, Midtown.**

* * *

Clint walked inside, behind him Natasha left with her target. He located his man without much trouble. The high-tech hood was still wearing his armor. The faceplate was raised and he was in the process of raising a new frosty mug of beer to his lips.

"Ahhh! Burp!"

"Smooth."

"It sure is."

"You enjoying yourself Abner."

"Sure am." Abe felt a warm fuzzy glow in the pit of his stomach and it radiated from there to the rest of his body.

This was one of the best nights of his life. Everyone had been giving him free drinks, until Jake said that all drinks were on the house.

'I guess this is what being a hero must feel like. It's probably why that Spider-Louse does it.'

"Come with me Abner. We need to have a chat." Clint took the paroled villain by the arm to the same booth Natasha used. SHIELD agents had come in before the heavily damaged bar opened and did a quick clean up of the place. Most of the bugs were replaced and the sensors on the private booth were updated.

A few hours ago Stark bought out the joint from Jake himself, when Nick made the suggestion. Then Stark turned on the tap and the free beer was flowing like water. Everyone was on a happy high. No one was drunk enough to start a fight yet, and the serious nut cases would be too drunk to start anything on the premise that they would drown themselves in drink, before Jake changed his mind and turned off the tap.

"Hey watch it fella. Hick." Abner tried to get out of Clint's grip, but even with the armor on, he wasn't too successful. 'Hey. How come I can't get out of his grip?'

Clint shoved him into the booth, before Abner tried even harder to break the steel like grip. "Jenkins I have an offer you can't refuse." he sat across from the confused super villain.

"We'll talk business tomorrow. Tonight we party. Hick." his happy was still on and the booth was really comfortable, even in the armor.

"This can't wait. So tell me Abe, can I call you Abe?" Clint didn't wait for the villain to object, "Abe how do you like it? All this adoration and congratulations for being such a big hero?"

Abner thought about it for less than a second. "It's 'Fukkin' great. This right here's why I got into the game. Did you know that I was a master mechanic, before I made the suit. I wanted fame and fortune, and tonight's the closest I've ever gotten."

"In that case how would you like to feel like this every night? Make as much money in a month, as you would on any average bank robbery you've pulled in the last few years? How would you like to work with some of the most beautiful and deadly women in the world?"

"Would I get to fuck 'em?"

"Only if they let you, and if you force yourself on them, they'll either rip it out by the root or if they're feeling merciful just kill you." Clint had a huge smile on his face picturing this jackass trying to force Natasha. If there was anything left to bury, he'd be surprised.

"Sounds good. Where do I sign?"

Clint pulled out a tablet and popped out a stylus, "Right here." he showed Jenkins where to sign.

Abner signed with bleary eyes. He was still thinking about the sexy women. He'd already forgotten most of the stuff the guy was talking about, but that's okay. The guy had a friendly smile and was buying him beer.

The smile on Clint's face got even brighter when Bobbi joined them. "You done babe?"

"Sure am."

"Is she one them babes you were talking about?"

"Yep."

"Heyyy, beautiful. Looks like we'll be workin' together."

"Righhhht." she looked at Clint as she sat in his lap, "What the hell did you promise him?"

"The only things he remembers are the beautiful and deadly women that he'll be working with from now on."

"Oh lord. You sent him after Natasha." she gave him a deep kiss, "You didn't have to do that for me." she gave him another kiss.

"Hey! Where's my mine?"

Bobbi slugged him without even looking. Abner fell inside the booth while she and Clint made out in the only private place in the whole bar.

**12:02:53 A.M.  
May 05/2012**

**Manhattan, New York.**  
**SHIELD Helicarrier.**

* * *

"What the hell does that woman think she's doing?" Nick Fury asked out loud.

"I think she just sealed the deal." Hill said as she handed him a pad, "I don't think agent Barton told her that the booth was wired." she watched the pair make out in the booth, "and I don't think she cares if he did."

"These the figures for the weapons and prisoners?"

"Yes sir. Where do you want to put them?"

"Don't worry about that Hill. There's a place made for just this eventuality." he took a quick glance and returned the pad. "Where's the portal machine?"

"According to agent Coulson, Stark and Banner have already taken it apart to see what made it work."

"The Tesseract what made it work."

"I think that was only the power source, but from what Coulson reported so far, they've isolated the energy shield and anti-gravity sections. Looks like Stark wants to add those features to his armor."

"Only if we get a version of that armor for SHIELD use, otherwise no deal."

"He already has access to the technology, and by the time we get there they'll have figured out most of the independent functions."

"I know, but the only way he's keeping them, will be when I see some suit on my people. They don't even have to be his best. Hell I'll even settle for the mark II at this point."

"That might work. He's already working on several mark VIII, by the time we confiscate the rest of Dr. Selvig's machine, he'll having several working models."

"How the hell did Phil figure all this out?"

"He's good friends with Pepper Pots. Apparently they chat." she said with a smile.

"Wipe that smile Hill. I don't care how I get my Intel. So long as I get my Intel." he took a deep puff, and blew the smoke out. "Logan on board yet?"

"He's waiting for you in your office."

"Good work Hill. Take over."

"Uh sir, aren't you worried about the council's response?"

"No Hill I'm not." he left the bridge without explaining why.

**12:07:48 A.M.  
May 05/2012**

**SHIELD Helicarrier.**  
**Director's Office.**

* * *

Logan was pacing back and forth, like a caged Lion, or a Wolverine. He had taken one of Nick's Cubans and was chewing on one end. The other end was still unlit.

The door to the office slid open, "Will you stop pacing. You're wearing out the rug."

"Ha ha ha. Funny guy. You don't even have a rug."

Nick lit one end of the cigar.

Logan nodded his thanks. He took a deep satisfying puff. He hadn't smoked a Cuban since the last time he was in Cuba. "You ready or what?"

"You're not even gonna talk about old times?"

"What for? You were there. I was there. Now we both remember what happened. My version is more accurate. Yours was always faulty. You keep slanting it your way. This way I don't have to listen to you lie all night. C'mon. We have a Fisk to talk to."

"Joy." Fury rolled his eyes. He did not like dealing with Fisks. They always left you feeling like you were leaving something important behind.

**1:14:34 A.M.  
May 04/2012**

**Manhattan, New York.**  
**The Fisk Building.**

* * *

The SHIELD transport hovered in front of the glass panel facing Wilson Fisk's office. The large man turned slowly in his chair. He saw two men at the back of the transport, one he hadn't seen for a long time. Not since he was a child. Uncle Nick on the other hand has done quite a bit of business with him lately.

He pressed a button and the single glass panel swung open to admit the two men.

"Wilson." Nick greeted the large, but deceptively powerful man with a small smile.

"Uncle Nick. I see you brought with you someone I thought dead for close to forty years. How is it that you haven't aged a day uncle Jimmy?"

"Don't ask me Willie. I just got my memories tonight. Some asshole put three bullets in my head and wiped me clean. It's good to see you Willie. You still practicing that stuff I taught you?"

"Everyday. Now that the pleasantries are out of the way. How can I help you gentlemen?" Wilson Fisk was curious. Nick Fury on his own almost guaranteed that he would deal with the man, and give him almost whatever he wanted, for a price. These two men were family, distant family, but family that haven't even tried to backstab him, yet."

A young man with a deceptively warm smile walked up to the two men from the back of the hovering transport. His manner was very familiar. To be that familiar with James Howlett, was believable. He could be family, a close friend, or something along those lines, but to be that familiar with Nick Fury, without Fury throwing him out of the transport out of hand meant the man had some serious power and organization backing him up. He also saw Nick cringe when the man put his arm around Fury's shoulder in a warm and friendly one armed hug. And surprise, surprise, Nick Fury. The Director of SHIELD let him. Wilson Fisk was instantly on guard.

"That..." the man pointed with his chin at him, "Fisk's kid?"

"Nah. Grandson." Uncle James replied.

"Seriously. He's a lot older than I thought he'd be. Jimmy when you said let's go see Fisk, I thought you meant 'Fisk' what the hell do I want with the grand kid, no offense meant." that he said to Wilson Fisk. "Nicky, why you playing me like that man?" he asked the Director of SHIELD.

"Grow up Harris. His grandfather has been dead for over three decades."

"Then why the hell are we even here? I worry about your sanity sometimes man. You're getting old." he said wiping a mock tear from his eye.

"Knock it off Harris, if you push it any further I'll..." Logan pointed at his chest, "...be the one throwing you out of the top floor to the bottom, and when you get up, I'll do it again, just to drive the point home. Got it?"

"You're good Jimmy. I'll give you that, but you're not that good." Xander let alpha out to play and the two Primals, one born and the other made faced off.

Nick walked to the bar, like he owned the joint. He picked up a seltzer bottle and walked back with it. When the two of them didn't notice he, "uhmm."

They ignored him. Neither man was backing down. He raised the bottle and sprayed them. "Are we done. I can't stand to be in the presence of such manly men like yourselves. Knock it, the fuck off!" the two just looked at him like he had lost his mind. "Could someone please tell me, why the fuck I brought you two clowns with me?"

"You asked." Logan told him.

"You said you wanted to visit Fisk-y. I haven't seen him in over seven decades. I was starting to forget the man. Ugh. Too much history in this noggin." he rapped his knuckles on his head to loosen up the memories. It didn't work. "Anyway, why are we here, if Fisk-y is dead?"

"We're here to see Wilson. Not his deceased grandfather." Xander was riding Nick's last nerve before he put a bullet into the fool's head.

"Pfft. Death is overrated. I have friends who made it into a hobby to die and occasionally come back. If we need to talk to the Fisk and not the grand kid we could always resurrect the man. No big."

"I hate it when he does that." Nick told Logan. "He has no respect for the dead."

"You mean he serious?" Logan asked Nick.

Wilson Fisk just stood back and listened closely to everything these people were talking about. This conversation would be analyzed in depth later when his uninvited guests had left. A thought then hit him; if death is not an obstacle then maybe the man who obviously was an immortal acquaintance of his grandfather, and how he hell did his grandfather attract immortals like shit to flies anyway. He would have to go back and check those diaries all over again. It would seem he couldn't take anything for granted anymore. And that's after he had dealt with all manner of weirdness lately.

The news channel running in the background distracted him. It was showing highlights of the battle with the aliens. Jimmy was there as well as the deceptively young man with him. He closely studied the battle footage while the immortals argued. He always knew that uncle Jimmy was good. The man started him on the road of martial arts mastery. The young man however was even more dangerous. He was able to fight multiple targets in the sky on the ground, and directing the battle around him while Captain America did the same on the other end of the square.

'He just keeps getting more dangerous by the second and he has yet to ask for anything. I don't like how this little visit is shaping up at all! However if what I heard is correct this might be my only chance.'

"What do you gentlemen want?" he asked.

"We want one of your people. Electro. And I want him to understand that if he doesn't cooperate you personally will deal with him." Nick told him.

"Done! I have one price and it's not negotiable. You seem to have the means. I want you and whatever resources you have at your command to bring my wife back to me."

"She run off somewhere or something?" asked Xander.

Nick slapped him upside the head, "She's in a coma you ass."

"Oh! Sorry man. My bad."

"I don't care about your bad or your good. I want my wife back at my side. Do this and Electro is yours."

"That's a lot better than calling in that favor our Fisk gave me." Logan looked at Nick, "You knew about that, that's why you asked me along. I'm not your bitch Nick!" the claws came out slowly. The blood dripped along the blade and stopped bleeding before the first drops traveled half an inch down the blades.

"Can you bring my wife back?" Wilson Fisk asked.

Xander studied the man closely. He sighed, 'Why the hell did he have to ask for someone else and not himself. Damn it. I hate being jerked around by my emotions and I hate it even more when they don't even know that they're tugging on those chains.' he walked close to Wilson Fisk and looked the man in the eyes, right into his soul. He got the full measure of the man. "Show me."


	31. Chapter 31

**07:19:07  
May 05/2012**

Manhattan, New York.  
The Stark Tower. 

* * *

Buffy walked with Dawn to the dinning nook in the kitchen. She had a croissant in her mouth. She saw a bleary eyed Willow walk into the kitchen from one of the bedrooms.

Tony Stark had insisted that everyone stay. As he explained it: he had the room, and most of downtown Manhattan was destroyed.

Everyone thanked him and took him up on his generous offer. During the night there was a flurry of activity with people coming and going in a hurry.

Buffy and Giles were exhausted, having fought their own seasonal Apocalypse. They ignored the noise in favor of sleep. With a slayer team on site, they felt secure enough to grab much needed rest.

"Wiwo..." she quickly swallowed her bite and tried again, "Willow?"

Willow paused as she processed the fact that someone was talking to her. It took another couple of seconds to identify the person doing the talking. "Yes Buffy?" she tried to put a smile in it, but it came out pretty weak.

"What's the what?" Buffy asked, she put down the rest of her croissant.

"Xander's fault." she kept her answer to a bare minimum.

"Reallly. I thought you were only into girls. I didn't know you still had a hankering for some Xander lovin'" she teased. The smile on her face took the edge off.

Willow blinked as she tried to process that last sentence. She looked at Dawn, who was having a coughing fit and hiding behind her own sandwich. She turned to her only hope. The coffee maker had a fresh pot in it. She grabbed a cup and took a quick drink. It was hot, but her new and improved Willow managed the heat without a problem. She went over the sentence again in her head.

By his time Dawn had dropped the sandwich and was laughing her ass off on he ground.

That was the picture Rupert Giles walked in on the scene with a smile on his face, a light heart and a bounce in his step. He looked at the scene in front of him and smiled. For the first the first time in years, all his children were together, safe and sound. On top of that he woke up without any pains or aches since he was assigned as Watcher to Buffy a decade and a half ago.

"I take it you found something humorous to laugh about?"

Dawn pointed at Willow and cracked up again.

"Yes I agree. That is indeed Willow." he turned from Dawn to Willow, "Did you tell a funny anecdote of some sort perhaps?"

"Huh? What?"

"Jeez Will. You're really out of it. What did Xander do to you last night?" Buffy got off her chair and pulled her best friend into a hug.

"He took me to see some lady in a coma. She, she needed help. Someone was holding her spirit hostage in the nightmare realm. I had to go in and bargain for her release. After that I cured a minor disease she had, but it was the Nightmare thing that did me in. That damn spear really did a job on me when he slipped that bit of DNA strand into everyone." she huffed.

"Aw c'mon Willow. You've done more difficult spells in your sleep. Why did this one do you in?"

"Buffy it's not the difficulty that did me in. It was the attention to detail that I had to monitor to make sure no one became a hideous deformed monster. We're talking about combining Human and Asgardian DNA with the essence of a Primal group empowerment. That's what did me in, and on top of that I didn't get enough rest with Stark pestering me about something I can't even recall right now. It's just for some reason I can't say no to Xander when he gets all serious and stuff."

"Didn't you get the same power-up as the rest of us?"

"Yes, but I was the one guiding the power-up wave, and if Gaea didn't want this to happen. Yeaaash. I wouldn't want to be us when it was over."

"That bad?"

"Buffy haven't you noticed that you could probably peel Tony Stark out of his armor, while it was powered up?"

"Not really. But now that you mention it, it does fell like I'm holding the Slayer Scythe. Even though I'm not. I'm all charged up and ready to go, and stuff..."

"Speaking of ready to go, so should we. We have an early morning appointment with the President. We should try not to miss it. I was about to ask Willow to send us to the British embassy, but I think we'll try another way. Dawn?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you been to the British embassy in Washington D.C. recently?"

"Yep. I can send you guys there no problem. What's your meeting about?"

"Xander sent a list of names that we need to discuss with the President. Some names have already disappeared, and other we need to interview to find out just how out of touch these people are. So could you?"

"Sure. Any time you're ready."

"Well you may be ready, but I'm not. I need to. Uh a whole new wardrobe if we're meeting the President. Look at me." she waved at he outfit. She had come directly from combating the latest big bad and she had to borrow clothes. These didn't even fit properly.

"Buffy I doubt there any shops open at this time. Most establishments would be closed due to the disaster that has befallen the city."

"New clothes or no meeting. You decide." she said with steel in her gaze.

He sighed. He knew his slayer well. On his she would not budge. And he did not need a reminder of being a non budget type person again. The last time she did that it went on for years. "We, we, we could shop in Washington. I am certain the shops there would be open."

"Okay. What are we waiting for? I know the perfect place to get that new summer wardrobe I want." she pulled her protesting watcher to the. Enter if the room and Dawn did her thing.


	32. Chapter 32

**09:16:33 A.M.  
May 05/2012**

Manhattan, New York.  
The Stark Tower. 

* * *

Thor escorted his brother Loki to the kitchen for breakfast.

"I do not wish to be in the same room as that witch." Loki had been about the humiliation he suffered under Willow heavy handed punishment. "I am a 'Prince of Asgard.' it is beneath me..."

"Complain all you want brother. While tis true, you are as you say, a 'Prince of Asgard.' she is a 'Daughter of Gaea.' lest you forget, Gaea is my Mother and as she is considered a consort of Alfather Odin. Therefore a 'Queen of Asgard.' which make Lady Willow your equal."

"I am a God..."

"...And she Loki, is a Goddess, and in her realm of influence. I doubt not that you would have done much better..."

The two were interrupted when Thor's Hammer Mjolnir vibrated and briefly glowed blue then subsided.

Thor took the Hammer and put it on the table top and looked at it sternly. "You will stop that." he waved his finger in warning.

"What was that? I've never seen Mjolnir behave so..." the two stared open mouthed when Steve picked up the Hammer and gave it back to Thor.

"Table's for eating. It's rude to other when you put your weapons on it like that. You can use the coffee table over there if you have to." Steve put his plate in the same place where he removed the Hammer from. He noticed the now silent open mouthed Asgardians staring at him. "What?" he looked around and didn't see anything more unusual than normal for Stark's Penthouse.

"You, you, picked up the Hammer..." Loki couldn't say anymore. He kept looking at Steve like he was an unusual specimen of some sort.

"Sorry. Is there some sort of taboo where you're not allowed to touch another warrior's weapons or something?" Steve thought that he had so much to learn. Not only twenty first century etiquette, but now he had to add Asgardian, and maybe even aliens behavioral information. 'When the hell did I become an Anthropologist?' he wondered.

"I know I'd be upset if touched my shiny, and let's not talk about what Buffy would do to you if she saw you playing with her Scythe." Faith explained as she stole a couple of pieces of bacon from Steve's plate.

Sharon tagged her with a light slap on the wrist, "Get your own. There's just enough for two." she smiled at Steve and gently stroked his hand, with her other hand. She took a moment to re-sync their genetic signatures again.

"Buffy what are you doing back so soon? Don't you have a meeting to get to?" Dawn's was heard from the living room.

"It's not for on for another fifteen minutes or so. Plenty of time to get changed. Just zap me to Giles when I'm done."

"Buffy! I'm not your taxi service. This takes a lot of concentration..."

In the kitchen Loki turned to Thor, "That's where I went wrong. I should have started with her and not the primal."

"Are you still on about that. Accept your defeat with grace."

"Never. Next time I'll need to plan better..."

"What's this about a next time. I didn't agree to a next time." Steve was worried. He was not in the mood for this trouble maker trying his hand at another invasion. There are permanent ways of stopping this madness.

"Oh I wouldn't worry too much about him just yet Steve. There are permanent ways of getting him to stop his destructive hobby." Xander's smile held an edge that told Loki he wouldn't like the primal's solution.

"You may not threaten a 'Prince if Asgard.' in such a manner." Thor warned Xander.

"How do you want me to threaten him then? I'm more than open to suggestions." Xander was willing to work with the big guy. One way or another Loki would not be doing a repeat. He wasn't Batman, and the revolving door stops right here.

"Loki's punishment will be decided by Odin. You may not usurp his right for justice. He must answer for his attempted take over of Asgard and the damage done to the Rainbow Bridge."

"I have no problems with that. So long as he doesn't make a habit of becoming a frequent visitor. Make sure that whatever your father does...sticks." Xander walked away to greet his girls. He linked a hand with Faith and went to see what Kind of shoes Buffy bought. Not that he was interested in the shows mind you. It made Buffy happy when he showed an interest in her favorite hobby.

"Later." Faith waved as she and Boytoy left the kitchen area. Sharon was the only one to wave back.

Steve was looking between Thor and Loki.

The Asgardians noticed his scrutiny.

"Captain..?" asked Thor.

"He may have been a little rude in how he threatened you, but I agree with him. We are not playthings for the Gods. We are no longer helpless before your power. You treat us as friends and allies and we will respond in kind. Another attack like this...let's just say Xander will be the least of your worries." Steve left his plate on the table no longer hungry.

Sharon gave the two brother a look that said don't you dare stop him. She picked up the plate and followed. They would not be ruining her breakfast with Steve that easily.

Thor gave Loki the look.

"What?" Loki asked innocently.

Thor didn't even bother to reply. He went after Steve. Maybe he could salvage the situation before it became even more dire. After all: these were the people he was depending on to get him back home.

The Hammer buzzed again.

"Is something wrong with Mjolnir. I'd be more than happy to take a look at it if you want?" Tony and Pepper went to the buffet and both started to load their plates. With the new changes in their genetic make up they would need to load up for next few weeks.

"There's nothing wrong with Mjolnir."

"Then why is it acting up? Not enough iron in his diet?

Thor laughed, "That hits close to the mark. At the moment Mjolnir is acting as host to someone that dared challenge my mastery of the Thunder and Lightning a villain by the name of Max Dillon."

"How did you stuff him in there and how is it he's even still alive?"

"He was somehow changed into a lightning bolt. When Lady Natasha asked me to accompany her last night. This villain attacked without provocation and boated that he was the new God of Thunder and Lightning. I am simply teaching the pretender the error of his ways."

"Is his another one if Fury's recruits. 'Cause if it is, I am not impressed with his selection. JARVIS set up a meeting with Director Fury as soon as possible. There are a few issues I'm concerned with."

"Yes sir. Done. I have sent the request and I am now waiting for a response."

"Thank you JARVIS."

"You are welcome sir."

"You have a good and efficient servant." Thor complimented Tony on his staff.

"JARVIS is not a servant he's, ah..." Tony was stomped. 'How do you explain a computer AI to an Asgardian?', "uh thank you." he dodged the issue, but until Thor had more information to work with it was less of a headache to just leave it as is.

"C'mon Tony. Let's go see what Buffy bought." Pepper dragged Tony after her.

"...but what about the guy inside the Hammer?"

"It's not Hammer time. I'm hungry and the stomach that's growling is not mine."

"It so is. I can hear it."

"Tony don't you know it's impolite to bring up a woman's body functions during breakfast?"

"But, but, but...hammer..."

Pepper didn't listen, she dragged him off, besides she really wanted to look at the shoes Buffy bought in Washington. She didn't have time to shop when she was there on business.

"These new Demi-mortals are a strange breed." Loki observed.

"That they are." Thor agreed reluctantly.

**  
09:28:52 A.M.  
May 05/2012**

Washington, D.C.  
The Whitehouse. Oval Office.

* * *

"Your 9:30 appointment is here sir." the President's private receptionist's voice said from the speakers.

"Give me a moment Liz and let them in."

"Yes sir."

The president signed a paper in front of him and put it aside. "Alright Jack. Who are these people and why are they here?"

"These are the heads of the New Watchers Council. And they're here because of the New York situation." Jack Brady explained.

"What do they have to do with an internal matter? How did they get an appointment so soon?"

"The appointment was made on their behalf by the British Ambassador, on behalf the Queen and Prime Minister."

"That's a lot of clout to throw around? What do they want?"

"Someone on the SHIELD council gave an illegal order to nuke the city. A missile was fired without your authorization on the island of Manhattan..."

"Dear God! What madman okayed that order?"

"We are looking into it..."

"I don't care who it is. I want their head on a pike !" after he calmed down, he asked, "Why is Manhattan still standing if we fired a Nuclear Missile on the city?"

"We have Tony Stark to thank for that one. Director Fury gave him a heads up and Stark intercepted the missile and as you saw he put it in that portal."

"Good for him. Put him down for a medal. What the heck, put them all down for medals. Those people saved our bacon."

"That they did. The problem we have is that by firing that missile we broke an important Treaty, with an important global power that has been on the books since 1799. Those people are here about that."

"You mean that piece of horror fiction you gave me to read last night is true?"

"Yes sir. It's really important we get back into these people's good graces as soon as possible. Until this situation is rectified we are vulnerable to different kinds of invasion."

"This is unbelievable. If I didn't see that invasion with my own eyes, I would have thought the whole thing one of your practical jokes. Alright who are we meeting?"

"The British Ambassador of course, Sir Rupert Giles, head of the Watchers and Buffy Summers the leader of the Slayers."

"You sure about that last name? She sounds like some kind of California flower child?"

The doors suddenly burst open and a tiny, but beautiful blonde woman walks in like she owned the joint.

"You have a problem with my name?" Buffy asked the President of the United States of America.

The secret service detail had the woman surrounded and for some reason the president felt that he was the one who should be worried.


	33. Chapter 33

**09:31:12 A.M.  
May 05/2012**

Washington, D.C.  
The Whitehouse. Oval Office.

* * *

Jack Brady had managed to calm everyone down, with the help of the British Ambassador and Rupert Giles.

The small, but very intimidating woman was still highly agitated, Jack knew all about Summers and her accomplishments. No way was he tacking any chances losing her support.

"You want to explain why you felt like you had to destroy..." Jack tried shushing the president, but he wasn't having any success. The president still thought like he was the most powerful man in the room. Jack knew better. The small blonde trumped them all.

"...and you were calling me names before you even met me..."

Giles tried to calm down his slayer while Sir Harold and Jack Brady did the same for the president. "Buffy that is quite enough. We are here to negotiate a treaty of some importance. You should try to behave like the head of an organization, which you are representing..."

Meanwhile, "How dare she. Doesn't she know where she is..."

The meeting went on like that for the next few minutes until all the ruffled feathers were calmed smoothed over.

Jack Brady explained once again the importance of keeping the Watchers and their slayers on their side.

"Offer he shoes." Sir Harold whispered.

"What? I'm not buying her shoes. I don't even buy my wife shoes. Why the hell do I want to start with, with..."

"Don't say it. For the love of god we can't afford this..."

And so it went for the next half hour. The president's next few appointments were cancelled while this situation was dealt with.

When the situation was explained to the Russian Ambassador, he understood and rescheduled his appointment. He had met Buffy Summers before and he did not wish to do so again, any time soon.

The Chinese delegation were not the same and tried to push the meeting. Until Buffy's screeching voice was heard. Again her reputation for international diplomacy reared it's ugly head and the delegates ran for the hill, (Congressional that is.) they too could be patient and wait their turn. No one needed to be in the presence of an irate Buffy Summers. She fought dirty. Her insults were always personal. Whoever taught her international diplomacy, should be found and shot.

"Buffy that is quite enough. This meeting is very important. A bit of decorum is called for." Giles told her forcefully.

"But Giles..." she whined.

"No!" Giles was firm.

She pouted.

On the other hand Sir Harold and Jack Brady were doing the same thing with the president.

After both parties settled down. Sir Harold began the introductions.

"Mr. President I would like to introduce Sir Rupert Giles. He's the head of the organization that stands between us and all supernatural enemies that plague our world."

"An honor to meet you Mr. President." Giles and the president shook hands.

"The young lady, is Elizabeth Anne Summers. The longest surviving and most powerful slayer to date. She commands the Slayer combat teams that are constantly on the front line, every night."

"Heya." was Buffy's offhand greeting. What it lacked in enthusiasm, she made up with total disinterest. 'I so don't want to be here.'

"Hey." the president was just as enthusiastic with her presence. 'Couldn't they find anyone else, this Cali girl shouldn't have made it past the Whitehouse lawn.'

Jack Brady knew his president well enough to know that the longer the Slayer was a part of the proceeding the less the president was likely to cooperate. And cooperate he must!

"How, how much do you know about the treaty of 1799?" Giles asked.

"Not much. Why don't you enlighten me."

Giles took off his glasses. He started to clean the lenses. Buffy smirked at her watchers familiar habit. Giles frowned at the glasses in his hands. His vision was better off without the glasses. He put them away in his suit's breast pocket. "The world is older than you know..."

By the time he was finished the president was looking at him with his mouth hanging open. Buffy was about to make a joke about catching flies, but Giles warned her off. 'He knows me so well.' she signed happily.

"...and that in essence is the current situation. Due to the negligence of the SHIELD council we find that the treaty has been broken, and to fix this problem an new treaty is needed."

"Why don't we just continue with the old one. You seem to want one and from what I've been told the United States of America can't live without one." he turned to Jack Brady and asked, "This thing about a Hellmouth is true?"

"Yes sir. Cleveland. We've assisted the NWC with some special units over the years, but they were there mainly as support. The Slayers have always been the front line troops in this war."

"Then all we have to do is renew the treaty. I don't see the problem. Jack get the States department in here to renegotiate and sign the dam...darn thing.

"It's not that simple Mr. President. The treaty is a ritual. A contract signed in blood by the leader of the nation in question, and the heads of the council."

"What kind of crap are you trying to pull here. I'm not giving my soul to the devil just to, to..."

Jack Brady sighed. This is what you get when your man is too lazy to do his homework. He looked at Giles and his eyes conveyed his apology. "Lady, gentlemen, if you would..."

"Yes. Uh, certainly. Buffy could, could you be a dear and help me with, with..." he waived his wrist about, "...blasted cuff link?"

Buffy rolled her eyes at her watcher, 'Could he be any more lame?' she walked, and grabbed his wrist and pulled him away, to the other side of the room. Sir Harold joined them. "Lame, lame, lame. Could you at least try to make it halfway believable?"

"The excuse believe it or not is for the President's benefit, not yours. He's a good man by all accounts, but he's hampered by the establishment that put him in power. Mr. Brady will sort him out, but the main opposition will come from the seventy nine levels that operate beyond the President's control. With the list Xander sent, we will be cutting down twenty of those levels. The new SHIELD oversight council will be under presidential control."

"What about the other fifty nine out of control assholes?"

"We can only hope they rear their heads in the future..."

"So we can cut them off properly?" Buffy interrupted Giles with her guess/question.

"P-precisely. You, you are learning." he said in wonder. He knew much of her facade was in fact an act. It was one of her strength. Too bad it took him so long to figure it out.


	34. Chapter 34

**  
00:00:00  
May ?/2012?**

Location ?

* * *

A door opened and Max Dillon saw a tall black man with an eye patch enter the room. Max tried to blast him with a lightning bolt, but he couldn't generate the needed effort.

The man pulled a chair and sat in front of Max. He stared at Max for at least a minute.

Max finally pulled enough energy to ask, "Who are you?"

The silent, but intimidating black man. 'Pirate!' and 'Danger' kept popping off in his mind.

Max tried again, "Where am I?"

"Do you know why you're here Mister Dillon?"

"Say, where is this place anyway?"

"Focus mister Dillon. I'm a busy man. I don't have time to play twenty questions." the angry man told him.

"Sorry. I'm a little woozy. I don't know what's come over me?"

The man with the eye patch snapped his fingers. "I said focus! Do you know why you're here?"

"No!" max tried to sound angry, but his heart wasn't in it.

"You are here, because your boss the kingpin sold your services to me."

"Mr. Fisk wouldn't do something like..."

The man gave him a deep stare.

'Yeah he would. If there was profit in it, the kingpin would sell his soul to the devil.'

"Who are you?"

"My name is Nick Fury and from this moment on...you belong to me."

"I'm no one's slave." he still couldn't muster the energy to protest further.

"You will be paid just like anyone who works for me Mr. Dillon, but if you ever disobey an order, weather from me or from anyone I assign you to I'll make sure it's the last thing you ever do. Do you understand?"

"Yeah? What are you going to do? Kill me?"

Nick Fury pulled out a gun and shot Max Dillon in the head.

Fury woke up in his body in the Psi-ops wing of the Helicarrier. He looked at the linked telepath lining the wall. They were under some strain keeping the electrically powered villain in a semi-receptive state. He saw Commander Hill waiting for him. "Again Hill! Again." he sighed. 'This will be a long fucking day!' he thought as he slipped back into the mental simulation. He had a badass villain to brainwash, and the day wasn't getting any younger.

**2:31:21 P.M.  
May 06/2012  
Above Manhattan, N.Y.  
Invisible SHIELD Helicarrier.**

* * *

Fury stood at the edge of the runway. His next appointment would be landing in a few seconds. 'There's the showboat now.' he thought.

Tony Stark hovered in front of him, just outside the runway.

Fury sighed, but the point was made. Stark may cooperate with him, but he didn't work for him. He stepped back and gestured for the man to land beside him.

Tony took the invite in the same spirit it was made. Reluctantly.

"What took you?"

"Traffic's murder at this time if day."

Fury looked down at the clear sky. The Stark Tower was right below the Helicarrier. "Funny man. I don't like funny men. Are you here to do business?"

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't."

"The Avengers..."

"Yeah slight change there. You'll be getting a team from most of the people who fought at the battle, but not the same line-up you started with."

"How so?" this was not his day. Dillon was proving more difficult to work with and now the clowns were making the decisions on their own.

"Well it's like this..." he raised a finger and continued, "One: Thor will be taking the trouble child home to be spanked by their daddy..."

"Yeah? Tell me something I don't know..."

Another finger came up, Tony didn't even bother to respond to the interruption, "Second: we'll still be getting a council team, just not Xander and his bunch..."

Fury pinched his nose, 'Harris might be an ass, but he's a competent ass.' he motioned for Stark to continue, "Who?" he asked.

"You know the kid, Spiderman?"

"I know him. He was on an alternate list."

"You're in luck then. Somehow he was taken as a watcher by the slayer Julie, who's be known as the Black Cat while on Avengers business. You even get another Slayer, but with a twist..."

'So far not too bad. Parker at least has power and experience, he just about ready for the big leagues, the slayer Julie, or Black Cat had the moves, but like most slayers she looked too young, but with a mask...', "What kind of twist?"

"This one doesn't want to be known for now, so she's getting a version of my armor, the one I was making for Pepper, but she's kinda new to the Slayer and 'Masked Mystery-person' set."

"She better be getting some training..." he growled.

Tony put up both hands to forestall him, "Again you're in luck, Colonel Rhodes in the Mark IX War Machine armor will be on the team to add some firepower and discipline." he saw Fury calm down, 'He he, just mention discipline and the military mind calms down. Not sure why, personally it's highly overrated.'

"That's four..."

"Captain America will lead the team..."

'At least I can sell a team with Rogers at the helm.' he made the 'Gimme more' sign.

'This hardball is a tough sell, looks like I need to throw the old man in.', "Last but not least from our end anyway the sixth man will be James Howlett..."

That caught Fury by surprise. "How the hell did you get Logan to agree to... TELL ME YOU DID NOT BLACKMAIL..."

"Whoa! Hold it! I don't do blackmail. Bribe, maybe..."

"Just tell me this is not going to come back and bite me on the ass..."

"It's not going to bite you on the ass." Tony repeated.

"Sell it!"

"Funny thing, Spiderman turned out to be a grand kid somewhat removed, just how old is this guy anyway?"

"If he didn't tell you yet, then you obviously don't need to know."

"Fine, not that important..." he sulked.

'Dear god he's sulking. Why do I have to work with such children?', "Any more surprises?"

"Just one. You know that Tesseract?"

"Yes. I know the SHIELD Tesseract, where is it? And more importantly when am I getting it back?"

"She'll be our seventh member for the New Avengers."

"SHE! What did you do?"

"It wasn't my fault. I wasn't even there. I was in space at the time..." he wasn't sure it he was or wasn't, but he didn't need to know that. "Blame the Summers kid. She's sorta...the mother. You get Sharon Cater Summers as your seventh."

'Sharon Carter Summers. Fuckin' great. The council and Rogers as her sponsors. €¥£#€}€^|%##!' he thought. "Where's Barton and the Widow in all this?"

"Widow will be coming with us to take care of a medical condition that came up during he battle, and Barton will be going with her to make sure she comes back intact."

"I'm losing two of my best. Tell me Coulson is staying behind!"

"Uh, yeah, Coulson is staying behind..." Fury's eye narrowed dangerously. "Honest." he gave the boy scout salute, even though he was never a boy scout.

"You will be taking on another SHIELD agent. No! Two agents. Agents Drew and Danvers will be joining and evaluating this team at the earliest opportunity. In fact they'll. E flying down with you."

"I don't do passengers." Although he remembered Drew, she was built. He wondered who she was supposed to distract. It. Certainly wouldn't be him, as he'll be away, and Pepper wouldn't let her stay in the Tower until she knew her better. Danvers, 'Hmm. Drawing a blank, doesn't matter, looks like I sold it. Now we can take the show on the multiversal road as soon as the 'Witchy-Kind figure it out. Better recalibrate JARVIS to detect all energies involved. This I don't want to miss.'

"What about Banner?"

"Faith will be taking him along, she said she needed a Boytoy firths cold lonely nights..." he saw another explosion heading his way, "Hey. Hey, hey. Do you want to tell her no?"

Fury did not in fact want to even talk to the dark slayer. He was not in no way shape or form suicidal. "I want to meet the team as soon as possible."

"No problem. As soon as you tell me what you're planning to do with the 'Ex-Cons' you've been recruiting. And I hope to god you're not calling them Avengers of any kind." Stark let the threat hang.


	35. Chapter 35

****

3:04:46 P.M.

May 06/2012

Above Manhattan, N.Y.

Invisible SHIELD Helicarrier.  


* * *

'I am not liking this, but it could have been a lot worse. Now to the real nitty gritty.'; "Where, is my portal machine?" Fury demanded. He knew exactly where it was. In Stark Tower, Lab three; Banner was working on it as they spoke.

"What do you mean your portal machine. That slice of tech was found on my building. I'm keeping it. Fair and square. Finders keepers."

"Stark we are not in a playground. A SHIELD scientist built it, with stolen SHIELD equipment I might add."

"Not really. A few of my facilities were hit as well. I've got as much invested in that piece of tech candy as you do."

"A SHIELD retrieval team will be taking charge of the device. Your property will be returned as soon as it's been properly removed. They'll be there a.s.a.p.; Unless of course you're willing to trade?"

'Okay so that was the stick, here comes the carrot.' Tony gave Fury his best 'I'm in a billion dollar piece of destructive, precision, and power weapon, and you're not' look. Although a case could be made for the Helicarrier. " What's on your mind?"

"I want suits. They don't even have to be your best, but I want at least a hundred."

'Not bad. I expected as much, at least he's letting me dole out the level of tech he wants. A modified, and stripped down version of the Mark IV should do the trick. Maybe even paint it green. The military just loves green. Changing the name for the type of armor is must at this point.', "Fifty..."

"Done!" Fury spoke before the man-child changed his mind.

"You haven't even heard the price yet. Billion each." he smiled under the faceplate, 'let's see you squirm out of this one. He he he.'

"I said done Stark, but I expect delivery to start by the end of the month."

'Sonova bitch. He was ready for that one. Can't blame him though. If he has to face another alien invasion soon, I'd rather the troops backing me have some punch. "I'll send you the specs by the end of the day along with the contracts. Are we done?"

"No. We are far from done. The Helicarriers you and Richards designed need to be modified for space flight. Artificial gravity and energy shields should give us a bit of an edge out there. What about those Quinjets you're building out in Jersey? My people say that they're space ready."

"The work on the Helicarrier can only be done if I'd have total access to the portal machine for at least two weeks..."

"You get four days."

"And that'll get you absolutely the same Helicarriers you currently have and granted they are awesome machines, but space ready they're not..."

"Fine. Five business days and that's it."

"Again we might get the gravity thing figured out by then, but the energy shields will be a problem..."

"What will it take to not make them a problem?" Fury's eye developed a slight tick the longer his conversation took.

"Like I said, two weeks. I'll be calling in favors from Reed and that's if Banner stays interested long enough to finish the math. I figure two weeks with no interruptions should do it. After all, I'd hate to be the one who has to take a flying coffin into space, what with all the hostile aliens out there, just waiting to pounce..."

"Alright, I get the picture. Two weeks, but not a day more, and all the pieces better be ready for transport the moment my people get there. Jeezus one more round of negotiation like that and you'll be doing my job." Fury growled.

"Nah. I wouldn't want your job Nick. I'd have to deal with people like me, and unlike you, I don't like shooting people. You'd better get your agent ready. I'm going down now, if they want to be introduced properly, it's now or never."

Fury gave the armored man the silent stare, 'One, two, three, four and five...' the two agents flew out of a door in the hanger floor and landed by Stark and Fury. The blond was a little wobbly on the landing, "What took you?"

"Sorry boss, but Carol's still getting used to flying on her own. She's more used to flying Jets, than being the jet." Jessica Drew explained. She made sure that Stark had a perfect view of her best features, front and back. Carol was still working in her powers, and she didn't go through the Hydra honey trap course like she did.

"Don't you think the 'Red and Yellow' will clash?" Tony was checking both girls out with his sensors. He didn't need to move a muscle to 'scan' these two. Drew was eye candy, the other one had the Cali-blond thing going for her, until you looked into her eyes and had to re-evaluate your priorities if she caught you checking her out. 'This one's going to be a handful. I can tell right now. Jessica looks like fun, but Pepper's going to make sure I'm not the one having the fun. Hey maybe Phil will change his mind? Nah...' he cracked up laughing his head off at the picture of Drew pursuing a romantic interest in agent Coulson.

"Let's go." Tony took off from the runway without giving either Fury or the girls the option of goodbyes, or in Nick case a chance to give them final instructions, before they became guests under his roof.

****

10:06:05 A.M.

May 08 2012

Manhattan, N.Y.

Stark Towers.  


* * *

"Thanks for coming over on such short notice Reed."

"No trouble at all Tony. It's always a pleasure to play in another man's lab. Bruce, it's nice to see you again after that bit of unpleasantness we went through out in the desert."

"Water under the bridge Reed. Now that the curse has been mostly broken..."

"Mostly?" Reed invited Bruce to elaborate.

Bruce explained the events that led up to the last few days.

"I'm glad to see that you are about to overcome the obstacles that life used to test you. It's good to see you back in the lab." Reed's warm smile told Bruce that he truly meant every word. There were very few people on the planet that could hold their own end of a conversation with Reed, fewer still on the side of light.

"How's Sue and Franklin doing?" Bruce had met Reed's family when Richards had tried to help him with a cure. They thought back then that they had resolved the issue. Alas some critical ingredient was missing and the Hulk came back stronger and more savage than ever.

"They're fine. Sue came with me. She's with Pepper. She was promised a tour when the Tower was finished; I guess most of the highlights are still the same despite the damage."

"The major changes will be behind the scenes. You might be interested in those Reed." Tony led the tour of the lab and when they were done they finished in front of the disassembled portal machine.

"This it?" Reed asked. He could already see that it was. There were several system that had little to do with opening rips in the space-time continuum, the artificial gravity and energy shield components were easily recognized as well as the power converter, the only thing missing was the power source.

"That's it. Bruce and I have already figured out how to reproduce the gravity and energy modules on a small scale, we need your help in figuring out the principles and the math, so we can super-size the units. I sorta promised Fury that the next generation of Helicarriers would have both innovations in them, and that they'd be ready for space deployment."

"Shouldn't be a problem from what I can see. You'll have to give them a stable power source...are you planning in sharing your ARC technology?"

"Not just yet. I was thinking of maybe using several honking fusion reactors, with an ARC backup under the control of a Stark AI. I'm sure I could convince Fury to let me put those in...as a safety feature."

Reed laughed. Tony wasn't sure if he ever saw the scientist let go a belly laugh like that. It was good for him. He was too repressed. How could a woman like Sue Storm fall for a cold fish like Reed was none of his business. Good for him in fact...

"Are we talking about the same Fury who bugged my honeymoon, and has you under twenty four hour surveillance? The same man who doesn't trust himself with his most important secrets, because he doesn't trust himself enough, on the off chance he might talk in his sleep. That Nicholas Fury?"

"When you put it that way..."

"Oh. How would you put it?" Bruce smirked. He didn't trust Fury. The man was just like Ross on the inside where it counted. On the outside he might play the compromise game, but that was just it. It was a game. The rope he gave you was long enough to go around the world several times, but it was still a rope with a beginning and a end.

"Not fair. You guys are ganging up on me. How can I be the gracious host if you do me like that?"

"Tony you are a smart man. Isn't that right Reed?" Reed nodded that yes Tony was clever. "See even Reed agrees with me, but get over yourself, no matter how smart you might think you are, Fury will match you with cunning and a healthy dose of paranoia. If he could, the man would not trust what his right hand is doing while his left hand is out of sight. If you put an AI on the Helicarriers, be prepared to lose it."

"He's essentially right. Give the man what you are prepared to lose; otherwise he'll get what you dangle in front of him, one way or another. Now, where's the power source?"

"You remember the brown haired girl hanging all over Steve Rogers when you came in?"

"Yes. Very nice polite young woman. Sue liked her."

"She's likable, a babe. Hot stuff, whatever. She decided that she'd rather have a Steve as boyfriend than spend eternity as an all powerful source of cosmic energy. Go figure. Sure Steve's a stud and all but come on."

"She changed her nature from energy to physical being. Fascinating, but if she has the energy to transform herself one way, she should be able to transform back..."

"Yeah we'll she says that because of the template she used she can't. She's locked in her new form, she can modify the structure, but he form stays until the original template figures out how to transform from solid to energy and back again."

"What are the chances of that happening?" Reed asked, he was doubtful it was even remotely possible for a human to reach that stage of evolution without outside help.

"...surprisingly good in fact. The template started out as an energy being and was changed into a human form by a higher power, if you can convince her to try and go back to her original form, then we'd be in business."

"I think I would like to meet this girl." Reed said as he made his way back to the Penthouse. He had seen most of the Avengers were hanging out on the terrace when he and Sue landed the Fantasti-car on the landing pad.

"Hey what about the portal machine and the math..."

"I already figured that out long ago. I just needed someone to come up with a way to use it. This way there's a valid explanation for why we now have these new capabilities."

"You know Bruce, sometimes that man scares me."

"Only sometimes?" Bruce laughed at Tony's insulted expression. It was his best. He really was a good actor. But who was he kidding. Most of the people Tony hung around with had him figured out long ago.


	36. Chapter 36

** 11:42:38 P.M. **

**May 08 2012 **

**Manhattan, N.Y. **

**Stark Towers. **

* * *

Xander was singing. It wasn't even off key, but as songs went it left a lot to be desired, but as Logan thought 'Whatever floats your boat buddy.'

"Hiho, hiho, off to Washington I go. To lop off some heads with joy. Hiho, hiho, Da da. Da da, la da da, da di da,..." the rest was hummed to the same tune.

Earlier Logan saw Xander taking and accepting delivery of an old style trunk. The same trunk he just opened. 'My what a big 'AXE' you've got.'

Xander was still humming as he started to sharpen the axe head.

"What shu got there Xander?"

"What? This old thing." Xander smiled, then mock whispered. "This's 'Big Betty' don't let the girls know that she's my favorite. They might get jealous."

"Harris. How many freakin' times do I have to tell you..." she took a deep, deep breath and, "I AM AND I HAVE NEVER BEEN JELOUS OF YOUR LOUSY AXE!" she turned and left without another word.

"Healthy set of lungs on that girl." Logan was impressed.

Xander stood next to him and put an elbow on his shoulder, "Not only that, but she's got a rack to die for. I know, 'cause I've almost died several times to save that rack."

"Ya got good taste. I'll give you that. Now move it...or lose it." the middle claw came out slowly.

"Ya don't mean it Jimmy. Come on. Wanna check out my trunk?"

"No. I don't want to check out that trunk. Probably full of junk."

Xander stopped and turned around in surprise. "Are you saying that my junk doesn't interest you?"

"Yes little uncle. Are you not interested in another man's junk?"

"Tasha stay out of it."

"After what you put me through for the last four decades. Not a chance."

"What did I ever do to you? I just got my memories a few nights ago."

"And I have been leaving messages for you every year, for the last four decades, without fail. After thirty years I had given up hope for your survival, until I saw you with the X-Men. I renewed my efforts to every month after that."

"But, but...I didn't know."

"That's not an excuse either. Just admit you were wrong and apologize." Xander told him. The elbow was back on the shoulder, but Logan either didn't care, or noticed.

"What part of I had no memories for decades didn't you get?"

"It's not about who's right, or who's wrong. She's hurt. It was your fault. Whether you knew or didn't doesn't matter. You are apologizing for the pain you caused. It's an emotional thing. There's nothing rational about it. Just do it." Xander pushed him in front of Natasha.

"The kid's right. I am so sorry I caused you pain little princess. Please forgive me?"

"You are forgiven little uncle. After all I can never stay mad at you. You are the only family that I have left." she kissed Logan on both cheeks and gave him a heartfelt hug.

"Say, if you're my grand-pappy, and she's your niece, does that mean that she's my aunt or something?" Peter asked dropping from the ceiling over Xander.

Natasha looked at the annoying little spider that just spoiled her emotional moment. "Yes it does. Come give Auntie a hug." she opened her arms and gave him a warm friendly smile.

Peter's head almost exploded from the pain his spider sense gave him. He left Xander's side so fast he left am after image behind.

"Great survival instincts on the kid. Gives me hope got the future generations." Logan laughed at his grand, grand, grand kid's expense.

From the shadow's Julie saw how Natasha had scared her watcher/love interest, she was not happy, "How dare she? She was the only one allowed to scare him like that, and maybe M.J., but mostly her. She won't get away with that.

Natasha saw Julie giving her the evil eye from the hiding place she thought she was in, she smirked at her and went after her 'Nephew'.


	37. Chapter 37

The Begining of a New Journey...

** 09:21:54 A.M. **

**June 12/2012 **

**Manhattan, N.Y. **

**SHIELD Helicarrier. **

**Our Cast**

**Xander-Asgardian/Human Primal -Alpha, One who sees, and secondary WIELDER of Gungnir.**

**Faith-Asgardian/Human Slayer and Pack member, secondary WEILDER of Gungnir.**

**Dawn-Asgardian/Human Key and Pack member. **

**Bobbi Morse-Asgardian/Human Slayer and Pack member. **

**Natasha-Asgardian/Human, Pack member, and Primary WIELDER of Gungnir.**

**Clint Barton-Asgardian/Human Pack member, ability to see patterns, strength, weakness, and a watered down version of Xander's ability to see things. **

**Bruce Banner-Asgardian/Human Gamma powerhouse and Pack member. He' staying with Faith and Dawn for now, until he gets total control. **

**Betty Ross-Asgardian/Human and Pack member. She's not leaving Bruce on his own anymore. She figures he's safe enough.**

**Tony Stark-Asgardian/Human and Pack member. Iron Man power armor pilot and self described, Genius, Playboy Billionaire Philanthropist.**

* * *

Nick Fury was behind his desk. His mind was on other matters than the electronic paperwork on his desk. The screen remained silent waiting for his input. On the screen a diagram of the SHIELD personal combat armor, rotated from left to right, front to back.

Tony Stark had delivered as promised. The armor was equivalent to Stark's Mark IV, but different. It had a different look, color scheme, weapons layout, and twice the armor of the original, however It had no native onboard long range weaponry. What it did have was a plasma sword in the right arm, and a universal tool, that included a laser torch, that could be used as a weapon of last resort in the left arm. On each shoulder pad, a modular weapon mount that could slide to the back of the armor, much like the War Machine Colonel Rhodes borrowed from Stark long ago.

Stark had stuck to his guns about not delivering any weapons. He had said that a case could be made for the armor being a life saving protective, search and rescue vehicle. He had also sent over modified plans for a Phase 3 version of the new assault energy canon used by the marines during the invasion. He had said it was something he was playing with it was ip to SHIELD scientist to build and they would be the ones producing this weapon. To tell the truth, Nick preferred it this way. He even managed to talk Stark into building another fifty suits. He convinced the man that with his absence, there was no guarantee that the design wouldn't die with him.

The other weapon mount had more support for a bigger, more offensive weapon. SHIELD was in the process of designing several options. From missiles to large gravity rail guns. Smaller versions that Stark was willing to design for the Space Carriers. The first modified carrier would be ready for space deployment by the end of the month. Five others would be joining it, one per month.

After that, the new designs would be ready to go into production. Fury had insisted that these carriers were to be built right away. He felt naked without a presence in space. For some reason it had been really easy to sell the expenditure of funds to rush the ships into production, to both the president and congress. No one wanted another New York on their hands. The bill for the destruction had passed the trillion dollar mark a while ago. It would be cheaper to fight the next battle in space.

They would also be getting the Quinjet space variant fighters to use aboard the carriers. For defense the carriers would use the AI controlled repulsor technology, and for long range punch the Stark/Richards gravity canons. Other systems would include a variety of missiles from nuclear to the exotic Phase 3 energy torpedoes.

On the ground Stark had talked himself into building a mechanized robot force of fifty tons mechs that had small gravity units built-in for added all terrain mobility. Stark even had a couple of small factories converted to meet the demand of fifty Mechs a year.  
The Avengers were getting ready to start their trip to Asgard in a few minutes. The New Avengers would be on standby just in case Murphy decided to have some fun.

His Shadow Avengers would be ready to deploy as well. They consisted of a core of four SHIELD veteran super soldiers. The Finns along with John Walker and Graham Miller. The Lensher twins Pietro and Wanda, along with Hank and Janet Pym made it as the official black ops team.  
Frank castle would be his secret weapon in the superhuman shadow war. Castle now known as Lt. Colonel Jonathan Thunder would lead the Thunderbolts. Electro, Rhino, the Beetle in the new Mach III armor, Sandman on loan from Silver Sable. Nick was still investigating how the mercenary had pulled that one off. Clay Quatermaine and Julia Carpenter two more super soldier graduates, would back Castle, as well as keeping an eye on both Castle and the coerced criminals. Phil Coulson would be the only one to communicate with the three teams, aside from Fury himself.

"About damn time." Nick saw that the original group of people that first made up the Avengers roster, minus Captain America, were about to start their 'Grand Adventure'.

Iron Man held a stripped down version of the gateway machine in his hands. The Watcher Summers had placed her hand on his back. On a power converter that would channel her energy directly into the device.

Behind her Rosenberg and Sharon Summers were channeling their energy and adding their power to the watcher.

The device started to glow a brilliant green, until the light became too bright for the camera. When he next saw people on the screen, they were missing the Avengers and their prisoner. Rosenberg was the next person to disappear.

Rogers and Sharon Carter Summers then got the New Avengers together and they left the launch area. For once nothing catastrophic had occurred. If anything it was anti-climatic.

Nick sighed and returned his attention back to the paperwork. 'At least I don't have to worry about the old council. Harris and Logan had really gone crazy on their ass.' he shuddered as he remembered the crime scenes. 'Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of pricks.'

**09:29:01 A.M. **

**June 12/2012 **

**Manhattan, N.Y. **

* * *

Tony saw that the energy was in the green. Over one shoulder her had a huge gravity canon, it was one of his best creations since he came up with the Iron Man power armored suit. all red and gold, just like the suit.

All nanotechnology construction with a full version of JARVIS on-board for good measure.

On the other shoulder was another unit, red and silver in color and like the JARVIS unit this one had it's own AI JACOSTA. She was the daughter of JARVIS and his own brilliant additions. Her primary mission was life support and to map out the universe. Her main reason for joining them was to provide life support. Energy shields and a stable gravity platform in case they appeared in space somewhere. Unlike JARVIS, JACOSTA was a mix of magic and technology. Willow Rosenberg and Dawn Summers gave the sleek silver and red pod the ability to provide the party with an earth like atmosphere, and somehow a water dispenser that never ran out of water. JACOSTA could configer itself into a silver and red humanoid. Just like the JARVIS pod, but it also had a few other features. He most important beside the life support was the medical life support pod.

Every member of the team could regenerate, but for any unforeseen medical emergency, Tony insisted that they have another option.  
Again this was where science and magic merged to create another wonder, of healing spells, medical nano robotic doctors that would fix or clean any wound or infected tissue.

Finally she had a subspace pocket for storage. For now it was mostly food and emergency repair modules for his armor and the two pods and a backup replacement of the gateway machine.

He also brought a stash of liquid assets on the outside chance he could trade with anyone. Silver, gold, platinum and Gems of all kinds. Everyone liked shiny things.

Out side the security area the press were going wild. Throwing the most outrageous questions their way. No one deviated from the prepared questions and answers prepared before hand by Pepper and her team.

'This is it.' Tony looked at Pepper and sent her a private text message. "I love you." he then activated the final countdown...5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.  
WWHHHHZZZZIIIIPPPP!

The party disappeared.

Pepper read the final message from Tony. 'I love you too.' she thought. "Please come back safe."

**09:30:00 A.M. **

**June 12/2012 **

**LOCATION-? **

* * *

The party popped into a roaring blizzard. Everything was white. Outside of the energy field projected by JACOSTA was a freezing mass of solid ice.

"Oh great." said Faith. "We're inside an ice cube."

"Could be worse."

"How? How the freakin' hell could this be worse?"

"Well Faith my love, there could be a colorful umbrella twirling this ice cube around. I don't see one. Do you?"

"Where the fuck do you come up with all this weird shit? You know what?"

"What?" Xander was smiling at Faith when he asked.

"You are one weird flavor of ice cream, but I'll still lick you slowly, just don't talk when I start on the lolli."

"Eww. Faith! Don't give these guys ideas. Just so you know. I'm not doing that." Dawn complained.  
"Meh. Your loss, my gain. Sure he's weird, but he's got his good points." Faith told her.


	38. Chapter 38

09:30:00 A.M.  
June 12/2012  
Jotunheim.

* * *

"These look like the icy fields of Jotunheim." Thor looked around at the barren landscape. Inside the energy field all was warm and quiet. "I would recommend we don garments best suited to our new environment."

"Mmmmm, mmmm, mmmm!" Loki gave his brother the evil eye. He held up the SHIELD issue manacles.

Natasha laughed.

"Wassup Tasha?"

Natasha looked at Faith and tried to impress upon her one more time to stop calling her Tasha. All that without saying a word.

Faith snorted. She was picking up on the Widow's body language lessons. It was how Tasha could predict what everyone around her was thinking. Except for Xander of course. Sometimes Tasha missed what the guy was saying because she couldn't believe anyone was so silly as to think stuff like that with their body. Tasha wasn't fluent in child body language. Like the time Xander stuffed a whole Twinkie into his mouth in one go. She thought that Xander was undergoing a religious experience, silly Tasha, that only happened when she rocked Xander's world.

"What do you think is up Faith " she asked. "

"If I knew, I wouldn't ask." Faith gave her a heavy sigh.

"You're overdoing it. There's no need to shout." Natasha gave Faith one of her small tolerate smiles. Teacher to student. 'She has a lot of potential and raw talent. I should have her up to speed in a century or so. It's a good thing we have the time. Otherwise she would have been a hopeless candidate. So much to unlearn. Too bad she started so late in life. Little uncle is still around. I should get him to help out in her lessons when we get back.'

Loki ignored the peasants and demanded that his brother free him at once, one more time.

Xander sighed, "I hope you appreciate this." he unlocked the shackles and removed the muzzle.

Loki was confused by this gesture of kindness. After everything he had done to the man, he was the last one he expected kindness from. In his opinion he was a peasant, but one that had some power. "Thank you."

Xander smiled, "That didn't kill you, did it?" Xander let him be and went to see Tony at the center of the energy field, "How cold is it?"

"You have to ask," Tony pointed all around them, "that's not normal cold. The temperatures fluctuate between -40 and -60 degrees. And not because of the wind. In this small area the temperature should be the same."

"Is that in Fahrenheit or Celsius?"

"Doesn't matter Xan. -40 is the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius." explained Dawn.

"What she said." Tony looked at Thor, "You're the local, any idea how we get out of here?"

"Yes. We walk." Thor looked around. Nothing, not a single landmark to be seen, "I would hazard to say that we are in one of the many icy plains, and not the mountains. We walk, unless you're willing to take your chances with the elemental winds?"

"Could be. How tough are these winds?"

"No thank you." Dawn put the kibosh on that idea.

"Why not?" asked Tony.

"Didn't you hear what he just said? Elemental driven winds, as in the driving force behind the winds are alive, and Air elementals are playful."

"How's that a bad thing. It's not like they're evil. Right?"

"No, not evil, but for the air elementals, the toys in this case would be us. How would you like to be a flying action figure toy to a giant air elemental?"

"You have been to these desolate wastes before lady Dawn?" asked Thor.

"No, but I kinda summoned one accidentally, by he time I sent it back it wreaked several labs and shutdown half our communications network. So no flying." she mimed cutting her own throat, killing that idea.

"Say, how come we wound up here instead of Thor's home town?" Clint asked.

"His fault!" Dawn pointed at Loki.

"My fault." asked the outraged God. If it was his fault he wanted to know how he did it so he could do it again. "I was both bound and gagged. How is it my fault?"

"You wanted to go home more. While you're both Asgardians, I'm betting you came from this place."

"She's got you there brother. This was the place of your birth."

"You're not blaming me for her incompetence. I will not stand for it." Loki made as if to leave.

"Say, uh just wondering, but where do you think you're going?" asked Faith as she played with one of her daggers.

"Are you threatening me? I am a God."

"Settle down 'God' I believe we've had this conversation before." Bruce told him face to face. The other guy was ready to come out and rip this mad godling a new one if he didn't answer the challenge to the Hulk's chosen mate.

09:39:00 A.M.  
June 12/2012  
Jotunheim.

* * *

"JACOSTA, please assume humanoid configuration." Tony sent the command to the silver and red AI unit.

"Yes, sir. Assuming humanoid configuration now," she replied and shifted her form from a pod on Tony's shoulder to an attractive human looking version of the armor. Her features were a duplicate of Pepper Pots.

"Holy shit! What the fuck is that?" Faith shouted.

"That is JASCOSTA. She's our life support and medical systems combined into one," Tony told her.

"Stark, you are one sick puppy. You built yourself a traveling girlfriend. So what else does she do? Any certain bedtime tricks?" Faith walked around JACOSTA inspecting her from all angles.

"Could you please stop that?" JACOSTA asked Faith. "You are making me feel uncomfortable."

"Seriously?" Faith face was a picture on Fascination.

"Seriously. You're making me feel like I'm some kind of freak."

"Aren't you?"

"No I'm not. I'm an artificial person, but a person just like you. I'm metal, and artificial flesh and circuits, and you're flesh, blood and guts, but we are the same."

"You know you're a lot like Spice girl. You're alright." Faith slapped her on the back to show no hard feelings.

JACOSTA stumbled a step. "Hey. Not so hard. And for your information, my brain was patterned after Miss Potts."

"Whoops. Sorry. I thought you were built tougher than that."

"I am tougher than that. You however are far above the human norm."

"C'mon, cookie. Tell me all about what's it like being metal and all I mean? Do you remember what Spice girl knows, or what's the deal?"

While Faith was busy with JACOSTA Tony asked Dr. Betty Ross to help the android out. She did help out with JACOSTA's medical programming after all.

"Sure Tony. Not a problem."

Tony looked at Bruce, who nodded and joined Betty and Faith as they checked out JACOSTA.

"JARVIS, it's your turn."

"Ready to deploy, sir."

"Deploy!" Tony gave the command and stood back.

The JARVIS combat pod transformed into a duplicate of the current Iron Man armor Mark VIII.

JARVIS flew fifty feet into the air extending the overlapping energy field coverage. "Mountain range fifty degrees north detected." he reported.

"Looks like we have a direction. Let's go." With no better options open to them, they went.

**09:45:00 A.M.  
June 12/2012  
Asgard.  
**

* * *

"Our sons are back," Frigga told Odin as she walked into the throne room.

"Yes, Frigga, I know. Gungnir has already contacted me."

"Jotunheim."

Odin confirmed with a nod.

"At least they're alive. Don't be too harsh with the boy. He did save your life."

"True, but he was also the one who put it in jeopardy in the first place." Odin sighed as he thought about the situation with his boys.

"What are you planning, old man?" The smile on her lips assured the old king that his queen was being playful. She knew him well.

"I am sending the Warriors Three."

"Send Sif as well."

He gave her an inquisitive look.

"It's not what you think. They need a cooler head to keep them out of trouble," she explained.

"You are playing matchmaker again."

"It is a mother's prerogative."

Odin's snort told her what he thought of that.

Frigga was about to argue the point when she saw that Odin's heart was not in it. "What troubles you so?"

"Gungnir's obsession with order has left us vulnerable in the future if proper action is not taken."

"What has he done now?"

"He has created Asgardian/Human hybrids with the aid of Jord's Avatar."

"Mother's awake. Why did you not tell me this sooner?" Frigga was shocked by the news. Jord, or Gaea as she was Known on Midgard, was Frigga's mother, and she her Asgardian Avatar.

"I told you as soon as I found out."

"I take it you are communing with the spear as we speak?"

"I am. He has chosen several Midgardian warriors to be his WIELDERS. The current WIELDER is a female. He has physically bonded with her until he makes it back to me."

"What a terrible punishment. What has this warrior done that is so vile to deserve such punishment?"

"That my dear Frigga is just it. She was the best option available to the spear. He had bonded with two others that were both your Mother's champions. That action woke her up to the possibilities. When he rejected them as being too chaotic for his liking; she used the opportunity to carry out her plans. There now exits a Force of Earthly Valkyrie dedicated to her service. If she had to take such an active role to protect herself, then this tells me that the great game is about to start again, with Midgard as the focal point of the battle his time."

"I now understand your concerns, husband. I will try to reach Mother and find out more." Frigga left Odin to his thoughts.

Odin went back to watching the struggles of his children and their near kin companions.


	39. Chapter 39

****

07:12:32 P.M.

June 12/2012

Joutenhiem.  


* * *

"Why are we stopping?" Faith asked.

"We've reached the base of the mountain." Xander pointed at the mountain standing in front of the party.

"Again why are stopping? I know you're not tired, Xand, and hottie-doc looks like she could keep going." She didn't add that Dr. Betty Ross was the weakest link. Sure she was a lot tougher, and stronger with her upgrades, but the walk they just went through would have given her problems before her own upgrades were added, forced or take your pick.

"Faith, did you not notice that the blizzard is a lot less forceful here."

"And?"

"And...this here is a pretty good place for a base camp. We need Intel, we need to scout ahead and we need to know where we're going."

"Then why didn't you say so in the first place?" She sighed. "Sometimes that man of mine just plain forgets that I don't like these freakin' word games of his." The last grumbled comment was for Betty's benefit, but with the enhanced hearing of most of the party, she might as well have shouted.

Betty smiled at Faith's act. She knew that she was doing it for her benefit. Before joining the 'Pack' she might have resented the younger woman, but now she knew that the young woman was doing her best to help make her feel more comfortable in a crowd made of heroes and gods.

"It's alright, Faith. You have to let them have their fun. Ours comes later." She smiled back at Faith's light laughter.

"She's right you know. We've always had to make allowances for Xander. The goofy fanboy thing is too much a part of him. If you can't accept that, then you have no business hanging out with us," Dawn joined in on the fun the girls were having teasing her Xander.

Tony pulled out four small cubes. He set them into a defensive circle and stood far back. On a wireless signal he activated them. From each cube a bubble like structure emerged. They looked like they were made of metal. Mostly, they were. Each cube weighed at just under a hundred pounds. There was a seam at the front of each structure which moved aside like the doorway they were for the tents.

"Neat!" Faith was the first one in; she dragged Betty and Dawn with her. Inside each structure had a central pop-up round table with four round seats attached. There were four air mattresses and four display screen above each bed. Each screen displayed what was on the other side of the curved wall.

"How come the windows don't show up on the outside?" Faith asked Betty.

"They're display screens. We can see out, but they can't see in."

"You know that man has too much money and time on his hands."

"Boys and their toys..." Betty agreed, "...tell you a secret, I don't mind. This kind of comfort in the outdoors is kinda nice."

Faith and Dawn agreed.

Meanwhile the boys outside were deciding on his next move.

"JARVIS, can you get to the summit?" Xander asked the male android.

"Yes, sir, I can." JARVIS stayed where he was.

"Tony..."

"JARVIS, please scout from the summit," Tony repeated Xander's request.

"Seriously?" Xander asked Tony.

"Sorry. I'll let him know that he can follow requests within reason."

"Make sure he knows that anything from Loki is to be taken with a grain of salt and to verify with one of us before he acts on anything. That brother of yours is a tricky Ricky. Not only that, I think your AI still needs time to mature. How old is he by the way?" he asked Tony.

"He's almost ten."

"Good enough for most human encounters, but my money's on the reputed god of trickery," Xander explained.

"Oh. And you've had that much experience with AIs?" Tony was insulted by Xander's tone. JARVIS wasn't JACOSTA after all.

"Four, at least, from 1997 to 2001. Although the one from 1997 was Moloch the demon, the Corrupter. He was, as his title implied, a corrupter."

"Seriously? You mean that story you told us way back when on the Helicarrier was true?"

"Sure, Tony. Why would I lie?" Xander asked.

"Oh. I don't know? Maybe it had something to do with the way you palled around Fury."

"I was just tweaking his chain, and you have to admit, that guys chains need to be tweaked."

"I agree, but I didn't think anyone had the balls to do that and survive."

"Tony, have you met my friends? Willow, aka The Darthinator, and Buffy, the 'I'm just an innocent cute little blonde girl that couldn't hurt a fly, but will kill gods that annoy me?'"

"Little long..." Tony joked.

"Still a working title."

"I'll say..."

"Hey. I'm not done..."

"Sorry. Please continue. This is surprisingly entertaining." Tony waved for Xander to go on with his story.

"And then there's Faith and Dawnie, and..."

"Hold up there, partner." Tony held up his hand to stop Xander again.

"What up, homey?"

"The other two got the build-ups, what about your girls?"

"Tony they're all my girls. You've met both Willow and Buffy. You have a slight idea of what and who you're dealing with. Faith and Dawn you've been living with, to know them any better you need to get a whole lot more intimate..."

"I thought you said they were your girls?"

"They are my girls, and because they are my girls, I don't dictate to them who they can, or can't get intimate with. I'm just lucky that from time to time they chose me. If you want to make a move, grow up and man up."

Tony thought about it. Really thought about it, "Tempting, but after getting to know them both, Dawn feels like my daughter and despite what you heard, I may look, but even I have limits. As for Faith, Pepper would make me regret it..."

This time it was Xander who interrupted, "No she wouldn't, and you know it."

Tony thought for a moment and agreed; towards the end Pepper and Faith were getting along pretty well. He didn't know exactly what would happen, but Pepper would let him get away with it. There would be a price to pay later to be sure, but he'd survive Pepper if he made a move. "You're right. How about that? How come you saw that before I did?"

"It's a gift," Xander smirked.

"And the biggest reason is that..." he pointed at Bruce, "...guy's alter ego would rip me apart, armor or no armor."

"Wimp," Bruce smiled playfully at his friend and lab partner.

"True, but I know where not to tread." He shivered as the thought of the Rage monster getting his hands on him and letting go with all that awesome rage. He shivered again remembering just how much power Bruce contained under that mild mannered exterior.

"Friend Tony, Valkyrie Faith is truly worth the effort and sacrifice. You should bed her."

"You too, Thunderman?"

"She is a worthy wench."

"Bed the wench and move on," Loki threw in his two cents worth. "She is comely enough. Maybe I should ask..."

A growl came from deep within Bruce's soul and made its opinion known about what he thought of that idea, "...or maybe not." Survival was something he was getting good at, and this was one of those times when his instincts were screaming to 'back the fuck off!'

"Brother, I don't think that yon champion would let you have your way with the girl. I believe he would contest your claim."

"I think he would. She's all yours..." As he thought on the matter further, he pointed at Xander and said, "Yours as well," just to make sure. The Hulk would beat him senseless and may well kill him before Banner regained his intellect, and there was no guarantee that Banner wouldn't continue the beating for his trespass. The Black Knight however was more subtle than that. He had a mean streak, and he knew that the man was capable of much, and had the means to really make it hurt, even in the afterlife. He didn't carry a soul sucking artifact with him for nothing. While it was true he had not witnessed the Knight devouring anyone's soul yet that may be because he didn't need to. Still it would pay to be wary of both men.

While the party rested, on the hilltops above forces were moving to disrupt their rest. Higher still, JARVIS saw and reported the giant figures hiding in the shadows.

"AAAARRRRGGGHHHHH!"

The storm giants began their attack with bellows of rage as they rushed down the hills to attacks the Asgardian bastards that invaded their territory.

In the meantime other eyes were keeping watch.

****

09:19:56 P.M.

June 12/2012

Asgard.  


* * *

Odin from his throne saw the attack from Gungnir's ethereal network, and he saw the other hidden watchers. His children had barely arrived in Jotunheim, and already the scavengers sensing Asgard's weakness were attacking.

He saw the warriors respond quickly. The flying sentry had given warning in time for the heroes to assemble.

As the first of the twenty-five foot giants came into range it was met with deadly fire from the Armored warrior and the one Gungnir called the Black Knight, the chosen of Janus.

Gungnir's current wielder fired a cosmic powered blast that removed the head of another and Thor's Hammer, Mjolnir, called the lightning down on the heads of the charging horde.

A few fell here and there, but not enough to blunt the initial rush. The dwellings erected by the armored artificer were trampled into the ground and the heroes scattered. Even Loki tried to help, but his efforts only slowed down the dim-witted among the giants, and while that might be enough when the storm giants were calm, it was too little when their ire was roused, by the supposed invasion of their territory.

****

09:21:32 P.M.

June 12/2012

Jotunheim.  


* * *

The fight was savage, at first Bruce was worried about Betty, but he saw that JACOSTA had her safely behind her energy shields. Three of the Neanderthal type giants were trying to break through the shield; they had no success so far; he didn't wait to give them more time. He transformed into the Hulk and jumped at the first giant. He grabbed it by the pony tail and twisted for all he was worth. He heard a might crack and the giant went limp under him. He was pinned by the wait of the giant for a moment, but not before he saw Faith jump back and forth between two more of the giant savages. One had severe wounds, but that didn't slow the beasts down. The other guy had enough. He roared from within and Bruce felt his intellect being submerged by a more savage force.

The Hulk's girls were under attack. While he liked Betty, he loved Faith, and she was in trouble. The girl was always in trouble. Hulk wanted to tell her to stop, but first there were large men to smash.

Tony had taken to the skies as soon as the giants reached the camp. The shelters would repair themselves later, and his friends were staying out of trouble, mostly. He saw Bruce transform, and Thor and his troublesome step brother do their thing.

Clint and Bobbi were backing Natasha and Faith with Dawn helping Xander. JACOSTA was keeping Dr. Ross protected behind her shields.

JARVIS was maneuvering up above and he saw that he had reconfigured himself into the gravity canon mode. He saw where he was pointing, "No!"

The shout was too late. The floating canon fired at the giants still on the hilltops, raining down boulders on anyone not twenty feet tall. He even saw a few of the smaller giants get hit, but the gravity canon was designed by him and Reed to take out giant space ships, the mountainside didn't stand a chance. An avalanche came down on top of the party, and with it came down the rest of the dazzled and surviving giants.


	40. Chapter 40

** 09:25:58 P.M. **

**June 12/2012 **

**Joutenhiem. **

* * *

"JARVIS! JACOSTA! Emergency rescue operations now!" Tony flew straight at the few Storm Giants left standing. He fired left and right with his repulsor beams and fired a spread of missiles to cover the rest.

"What about Dr. Ross?" JACOSTA asked her creator.

"Have her help where she can. Whoa!" with a mighty roar, the Hulk burst from beneath the mountain side that fell on the combatants minutes earlier.

He was quickly followed by Thor from another end and the Black Widow from yet another direction. The spear in her hand was glowing brightly. An energy shield surrounded her and her team. Clint and Bobbi started firing high explosive arrows as soon as their field of fire was clear.

While all this action was taking place another interested party watched from the shadows. One of their members has earlier cast a confusion enchantment on the entire party. The only ones effected were the androids.

JACOSTA responded by increasing power to her energy field and JARVIS by using the biggest gun at his disposal.

The infiltrator continued to make her way to the combat zone, hidden behind terrain, camouflage and illusions.

She waited for her chance for the warriors to be fully engaged before she reached down and snatched her target. Loki the disgraced Asgardian.

With her prize in hand the eight foot tall joutun made her way back to her party. Behind her the Avengers were quickly dispatching the disorganized and demoralized storm giants.

**09:26:48 P.M. **

**June 12/2012 **

**Asgard. **

* * *

From his throne Odin saw the illusion using giantess make her getaway with his stepson. He could do nothing about it personally.

Four warriors were racing across the plains to one of the hidden gateways that led to Joutenhiem.

Gungnir was unreachable as well. His efforts were directed to protecting his Primary WIELDER while she was in battle.

Odin knew that he would be able to re-establish contact with the Rune Weapon as soon as the battle was over. By then he knew it would be too late. Already the ice giants were racing back into the blizzard raging over the icy fields.

**09:28:36 P.M.**

**June 12/2012**

**Joutenhiem. **

* * *

"Just a little longer Dawnie." Xander urged Dawn to hold her shield up for one more minute. The others should have reached them by now.

"There's just too much weight Xander...Argg, I can barely hold it up." the strain in her voice told Xander exactly how long she'd last, before he could say anything a giant green fist burst threw and moved the part of the mountain that had trapped them underneath it like insects.

With a roar Hulk cleared the rest of the earth to reach his mate and the bright green light that brought him peace.

"What took you?" Faith asked her friendly green giant.

"Stupid puny giants blocked path! Hulk smash puny giants!" he declared in triumph.

"That's my guy. Gimme a hand will you?" she put her hand out for the Hulk to grab. Hulk did just that. Xander grabbed the exhausted Dawn before she fainted. He activated the tattoo on his back and poured enough energy to fly out, with Dawn cradled safely in his arms like a baby.

"Keep the green light safe!" the Hulk ordered the puny Alpha. He would smash him, but he knew that his mate and the green light would be upset. Deep down he knew they would nag the Banner out of him. He shuddered. For him it was a fate to be avoided at all costs.

With the party gathered above ground once more, Tony directed JACOSTA to retrieve the nano cubes.  
"JARVIS! What happened?"

"I have reviewed my records of the battle and have isolated the time segment where some one inserted a false set of memories and visual, audio and other sensory data."

"You got hacked?" Tony's surprise showed plainly on his face and in his voice.

"I got hacked." JARVIS agreed.

"Me too, and at the same time as JARVIS. In my case, I increased power to the energy field." JACOSTA added.

"But, but you guys never get hacked. You're the ones who do the hacking. Show me your logs!" he received the time stamped events from both AI and ignored the rest of the party.

The androids retried the nano cubes and reset the habitat.

When Xander emerged from the one of them, behind him he left an exhausted Dawn sleeping on one of the inflatable air mattresses. "Where's Loki?" he asked.

Everyone looked around and they noticed that Thor's brother was still missing.

"He was abducted." Natasha blurted.

"How do you know that Nat?" Xander asked.

She held out the spear, "He says that big poppa bear was watching, and an ice demon took him while he was unconscious."

"Looks like your dad's expecting you big guy; and you lost your brother. Sucks to be you. Don't worry. Come on guys, we have a trouble maker to find, before the demons who took him gut him as soon as he wakes up." Xander explained.

"How do you figure they'd gut him?" asked Faith.

"Simple. As soon as he opens his mouth the first thing he's gonna do is start making demands. If you were an ice demon what would you do?"

"Gut the git." Faith replied.

"Natch. C'mon let's get him before he wakes up."

"What about the storm?" Clint pointed out.

"Ya. What about the storm? Storm God?" Xander asked Thor.


	41. Chapter 41

**10:16:23 P.M.**

**June 12/2012**

**Joutenhiem.**

* * *

The first thing Dawn heard when she regained consciousness was Tony Stark's voice. "Tell me you're kidding, Thor?"

"No I don't think he's kiddin'." Faith was the one to answer.

"What?" Tony was taken off guard by the person answering his question.

"It's the thing, yo..." She turned to Xander and asked, "What's that thing where you have rules on how to act and stuff?"

"Protocols?" Xander guessed.

"Yeah that's it. Protocols! How would it look if the boss suddenly stopped the office party halfway through the party?"

"You're putting me on." He then asked Thor, "She's putting me on? Right?"

Dawn was still low on energy, her reserves exhausted, but the short rest had revived her physically. She joined the rest of the team, while they argued. Xander, as always, knew she was there, and so did Clint and Tasha.

"I'm afraid in this instance she's not; just because, as she said, I'm the boss. Protocols..." he told Faith, "I like that word..." he went back to Tony's question, "Protocols prevent me from ordering them to stop their celebration," He concentrated for a moment and smiled, "Looks like the party's winding down. Stay here. I'll see if they'll honor a request to stop a bit early." Thor twirled Mjolnir and flew into the blizzard.

"Sir. We have finished our survey. There are tracks leading back into the blizzard, they are rapidly disappearing. We need to follow them quickly before they are gone," JARVIS reported back from his search.

"Follow them, but stay on the ground. We don't have air clearance just yet..."

"Tony, call them back."

"What? Xander we have to follow the tracks while they're still there. In a few minutes I estimate they'll be gone."

"Tony, it's not about the tracks. They're the least vulnerable of us until we figure out who hacked them. Maybe you should concentrate on that, and let Clint, Thor and I handle the tracking." He looked at Bobbi and said, "Give him a hand, Bobbi. Something's doesn't smell right about how they got hacked. You too, Dawnie. Languages are your specialty, and the last time I checked you and Willow were still knee deep into the Elite zone."

Dawn and her slayer both agreed and waited for Stark to recall the androids.

"How good are you with AI androids, Betty?" Dawn asked Dr. Ross.

"Not bad. Not as good as Bruce, but not bad."

Dawn smiled at Betty drawing her into her group as they checked on Bruce. He had calmed down after Dawn did her thing and he was one of the experts in the field. Dawn had a team assembled and waited by Tony for the androids to return. "There's no need to grumble. You know he's right about these things. 'Sides, wouldn't you feel better knowing what happened?"

"Yeah, I guess? Maybe?"

Dawn laughed at Tony and gently elbowed him in the ribs.

Tony gave up. He smiled at her cheerfulness if not the situation he was being forced into. 'I should be the one leading dammit.'

The androids flew back and Tony got two of the cubes together and merged them into one larger structure as a make shift lab.

As the brains filed in to the lad with JARVIS and JACOSTA, Xander asked Faith, "Do me a favor?"

"What ya need?" she asked.

"You and Tasha stay with them. You know what happens to big brains when they gather in groups."

"All common sense goes out the window as they concentrate on their latest mad scientist project?"

"Got it in one. Tasha, you mind keeping her company?"

"No. Go. Don't take long," the Black Widow ordered.

Clint clapped a hand over Xander's mouth and pulled him out of the camp. "What's wrong with you?"

"You know. She just brings that side out of me," Xander smiled at the archer as they set a fast pace towards the last reported track position JARVIS found.

****

10:03:02 P.M.

June 12/2012

Jotunheim, Ice Giants position.  


* * *

The chieftain of the party that was tracking the Avengers looked at Laufey's daughter and smiled, "Congratulations, Laufey's Daughter, you've caught yourself a husband." He laughed, and all but one laughed along with him.

The old shaman and the girl's teacher sighed, "Do you even know what you have done, Hilda?" he asked the confused apprentice.

"I caught an Asgardian hostage," she said coldly.

The chieftain heard her and roared with laughter again, "Stop! I can't laugh anymore."

"The obnoxious oaf is right unfortunately. That is Loki. Laufey's Son and as such he's still considered as part of the people."

"I have just the thing. You have wiped the shame of your father's failure. As a reward, take your husband to the 'Land of Mists' and go!" He pointed in the direction of the timeless lands.


	42. Chapter 42

**  
10:05:02 P.M.**

June 12/2012

Joutenhiem, Ice Giants position.  


* * *

"As a reward take your husband to the 'Land of Mists' and go!"

Hilda could not believe her family's cursed luck. Even as she 'Succeeded' where these brainless morons couldn't she still got the shaft. The chieftain just got her married to her own cousin. A few branches removed, but still her kidnapped cousin.

Everyone knew the story of Loki the Elder Laufeyson. He was the king of their nation during the war with the Asgardians; Loki was taken by Odin as hostage.

After Laufey the Elder, Utgar-Loki took his place as king. Her father tried to remove the family's shame by killing Odin, but he and his men never returned from that mission.

"Say, Chief, how come you're rewarding that double dealing runt, instead of killing him?" she heard one of the brainless oafs ask he talked with the chieftain.

"Who said it was a reward, Bad-breath? For either of them? For Loki, it will be a punishment worse than death, and for her, at least she removed her family's shame, but we don't have any further use for her or her skills. The Timeless Mists will take care of them both."

Bad-breath shivered and it wasn't from the cold. He was an Ice Giant after all. They all knew of the Land of Timeless Mists. Time didn't work properly there. "I guess you are right. Sending them there is no reward."

The shaman sighed as he saw the defeated look on Hilda's face. She was a pretty and talented girl, but there was nothing he could do for her, except maybe get her humiliation cut short. "Hilda! Come! Bring your husband with you."

Hilda followed her teacher's commands automatically. She dragged Loki behind her. 'Curious. My touch doesn't freeze him. I wonder why?'

"Take this," the shaman held up a small talisman, and Hilda reluctantly took it. An ice travel talisman. She was still learning how to craft and power them. "There's no reason to stay here, listening to, to this...any longer. Is there?"

"No. There isn't. Thank you." she gave her uncle a hug and slung her pack over her shoulders and dragged Loki behind her. She activated the talisman and, together with Loki, sank beneath the ice.

When the chieftain and his men stopped laughing and joking they saw that Hilda and Loki were gone. "Where are they?" the chieftain asked the shaman.

"I sent them into the Timeless Mists; as you ordered."

The chieftain raised his hand to strike the magic user, but the intense blue glow on the tip of the shaman's spear reminded him of the reason he kept him around. 'He's too deadly by half; the whole lot of them. Their public shame may have been wiped out, but their family's rise to power had made many an enemy. Their time will come.' He slowly lowered his hand, turned around and began walking deeper into the storm.

His warriors followed. The shaman was the last one to reluctantly do so.

****

09:00:04 A.M.

June 13/2012

SHIELD Helicarrier.  


* * *

Fury opened the door to his office. Inside he saw an intruder.

"Uhm."

'A couple of intruders.' The man was reading from a hard copy. 'I thought everything in here was supposed to be paperless.'

"Sir Giles, Miss Summers. What can I do for you?"

Giles tsked as he continued reading, "Awful business that." He waved the folder around. "So much violence, so much bloodshed." He dropped the folder on Fury's desk. He got up from behind the desk and offered Fury his seat back. "Quite comfortable that."

"I'll send you one just like it. What are you doing in my office?" he demanded.

"UHMM!" Buffy threatened without moving from her spot. She took out a glow-y knife and started to do her nails. A bad habit she'd picked up from a certain leather clad slayer.

Fury didn't like where this was going. These people meant business; if they wanted to take him out, he'd already be dead. This was again a reminder of why he hated dealing with magic. He sat in his chair and, as much as he could, ignored Summers and concentrated on Rupert Giles. That was the true threat this time.

"What can I do for you?"

"We have a concern."

"What kind of a concern? And why bring it to me?"

"You, or, I should say, your actions of late are the concern."

'Not good. Either they're here on a fishing expedition, or they know exactly what they want.' Fury leaned forward on his desk and said, "I'm listening." Out of curiosity he glanced down on the open folder and saw both police and SHIELD reports about the grisly demise of the old SHIELD council. 'A subtle delivery and not so subtle threat.'

"What do you think you're doing with all this running around collecting dangerous artifacts? You are stirring up things better left untouched."

"With the loss and transformation of the Tesseract we need a different energy source. What else can we do?"

"You could try not to destroy the world by these hasty, ill-considered actions. You are on notice: Stop while you still can. Buffy, it's time to go."

"That's it. I don't get to break bones or anything?"

"Maybe next time..." With a wave of his hand Giles and Buffy disappeared from the office.

"I hate magic." Fury checked the surveillance in his office, "Blank."


	43. Chapter 43

Where is Loki?

**10:23:32 P.M.**

**June 12/2012**

**Joutenhiem**

* * *

Xander and Clint raced, silently over the dark icy fields. Overhead Thor was 'talking' with the Air Elementals. The blizzard had died down, mostly. It was still snowing.

Xander could see the Greater Air Elementals. They looked like giant deformed soap bubbles, except all jagged-y; angles instead of curves. They also had more color than he was expecting. To his eyes and he was sure that Clint could see the same things himself when he looked up from the tracks once in a while, that the bigger the Elemental, the more color it had. Xander knew what that meant. Their power was leaking through to a spectrum he could see, or sense. As Willow explained it, that was how his mind interpreted what it was sensing. As far as the two were concerned the sky was lit up with color.

"Pretty."

"Yeppers. The same way an atomic explosion can be considered pretty; if you ignore the destruction that it leaves in its wake." Xander went back to following the tracks.

"What? Those things?"

"Clint think about it. Think about the energy output that goes into the making of a blizzard of that size and intensity. Granted there are a lot of them, but the storm has been going on for a good while. The big ones by my estimate are equal to flying out of control nukes."

Clint knew a thing or two about wind. You did not become an archer of his caliber if you didn't study wind and its effect on ballistics, any object that could be projected through the medium had to factor in the power of wind currents and how they could affect the path and vectors from point a to point b.

"I see your point. How come the colors?"

"According to my best bud Willow, that's their power level. If you see a rainbow attacking, duck and cover is so not gonna help."

Clint grinned but kept quiet. He signed silent running from this point on, and Xander agreed with his suggestion. The two men ran together like wolves on the trail of elusive prey. In essence this was exactly what they were doing; following the tracks and Loki's scent over the icy terrain.

****

10:56:29 P.M.

June 12/2012

Joutenhiem.

* * *

JARVIS was laid on a table in the make shift lab. The other AI stood guard.

"I really don't like how they got through the firewalls so fast. Will you look at the time stamp. It wasn't even a gradual takeover. He went from nothing to hacked in less than a micro-second."

Bruce hummed his agreement. "I've never seen a thing like it." he admitted.

"I would love to get my hands on what they used. Although the copy of JARVIS in the armor was fine, but not on the android version. I wonder why? They both have the same protections."

Dawn saw that Stark was getting more frustrated by the minute. "Mind if I take a look at the source code?"

Tony knew she was decent with languages, all languages in fact. So he opened a few holographic screens for her to work on without making a comment.

Betty moved closer to Dawn's station. She smiled at the younger woman, and Dawn smiled back. Together they went quietly through the code. Dawn's magical reserves were slowly filling back up. She concentrated into tapping the rich ambient energy. She touched the same field that Xander, Faith and Natasha generated when they connected with Gungnir. The energy started to refill at a faster pace. While that was progressing on its own, she gave most of her attention back to helping Betty go through the code.

Outside the lab Gungnir felt Dawn tap into his communications field. At first he did nothing. He evaluated the user. He decided that she wasn't being malicious and let her tap into the field. After a while he saw that she was taking in more and more energy as time went by. Instead of letting her destabilize the network, he decided to fill up her reserves. He established an active connection with her and scanned her thoroughly. What he found stunned him. For the first time since he was created he was at a loss with what to do with the information. This was no mere Asgard/Human hybrid. This was a facet of the universe. This was the KEY in biological form. *SHE COULD SUCK ME DRY!* he thought. In self-defense he decided to flood her human shell with the energy she needed, before she consciously, or unconsciously drained him. He opened the channel wider and flooded her with the energy she was using.

"Whoa!" Dawn was glowing. Betty was taken by surprise. "Do you normally glow like that from time to time?" she asked.

Dawn was speechless. She was having a hard time coping with the sudden influx of energy. This was no longer an ambient energy field. She was connected to a power source, like a plug into an outlet, and then someone turned up the tap. When she was just shy of her current maximum capacity, she dropped the connection, before she lost consciousness. "What a rush!"

Everyone was looking at her.

"Sorry about that. For some reason the spear decided to refill my depleted energy reserves. He almost burned me up. I wonder what's up with that?" she frowned, "I'll ask later. This is much too important to leave unresolved."

"Are you sure? I you need to..."

"No Tony. I'm fine. I'll talk to Natasha later."

Tony dropped it. She was right. He depended too much on the AIs to leave them vulnerable to attack like this.

****

03:07:41 A.M.

June 13/2012

Joutenhiem.

* * *

"The scent stops here." Xander looked around and found tracks, a lot of tracks. They led in a different direction.

The sky was clear now and Thor was dropping down on them like a guided missile. Neither man moved. They knew that Thor had total control over the Hammer's flight ability.

"Why have you stopped?"

"These tracks don't make sense." Xander frowned as he knelt in front of a particular patch of ice. Loki's scent was strongest over this patch.

He looked at Clint and the other man nodded. He let Xander handle Thor while he looked around.

"How so?" he noticed the archer continue his pursuit of the tracks, he let him be. Xander was the combat leader of the group. He had fought beside him like a brother and he had acquitted himself quite well. Until there was a doubt of his capabilities faltering he would follow his lead. He was a puzzle to Thor. He was a mix of Balder in his trust and ability to inspire and lead his people, in and out of battle. He was able to see to the heart of things like Heimdall. He knew that this was a gift from Gaea his mother as one of her champions and defenders.

Xander pointed at the patch, "What do you see?" he asked.

Thor looked at the icy patch of ground. There were tracks, he looked closer still. The impression left behind by Loki's unconscious body was there, as well as tracks from a smaller ice giant. Slender tracks, he looked up and asked, "Female?"

"You noticed that did you. I think she's the one who got Loki in the first place."

"How so?"

"These were the tracks Clint and I followed from where they started. I didn't know the difference, because let's face it, I've never met ice giants before. They looked big I just assumed, but when you compare them to the other tracks all over this area, you can see the difference. Not just a smaller version of the big guys, but from the shape you can tell that it's female or feminized, you see what I mean?"

Thor nodded. He had a bit of familiarity with ice giants and he knew what the Black Knight was talking about. He was also impressed with his tracking and analytical skills. His respect grew yet again. "What else?"

"The what else is Loki himself. See the impression?" he again directed Thor's attention to the same spot.

"I see it..." he pointed at Loki's imprint, "Loki..." he moved his index finger again, "The female..." and he moved it a third time, "and another."

"Physically you're right on the money."

"What am I missing Knight?"

"Xander. Just Xander."

"You have earned this title in my presence. Why do you seek to deny it?"

"Bad memories. Someone called me a White Knight once..."

"Then it's not an empty title..."

"Not really. He meant it as an insult. Anyway, water under the bridge and all that crap that flows with it. Back to the important stuff. Your brother."

Thor agreed. Now was not the time for telling tales. He would get to the heart of this matter later during the journey. "My brother..."

"Where did he go from here?"

"What do you mean? Did you loose his tracks? He was obviously carried away."

"No he wasn't." Xander was sure of that.

"Explain!" Thor demanded.

"No scent. It ends on that spot. Hers as well."

"Sorcery?" Thor asked.

"Gotta be, or something close to it. Nothing else makes sense."

"Then Loki is lost." his temper began to rise."

Xander saw that, and continued, "Not entirely. See those tracks there?" he pointed to the other set of tracks, beside the female tracks..

"The male?"

"The male." Xander confirmed.

"Then all is lost. Loki is no longer within our reach." Thor's voice rose in anger.

"Not all." Xander told him calmly.

Thor willed his anger to stop. He looked at the Black Knight and saw that he was not giving up the chase. Could he a scion of Asgard do any less?

"What next, Knight?"

"Xander. There's no Knight."

"Pardon?"

"It's just Xander. Not Knight, or Black Knight, or any kind of Knight for that matter."

"How so? I have with mine own eyes saw you earn that noble title. Tis truly earned and deserved."

"Not really. I was called the White Knight as an insult by a deadly enemy. He wanted to rub my nose in my weakness and show me how helpless I was. I'm not a Knight. I'll admit to being a fighter, who's had a good run so far, and hope to continue for some time to come, but not as a Knight. There's nothing noble about this. It's death, destruction and bloodshed. It's always about the blood." Xander explained.

Thor saw how this conflict was waged in the warrior's heart. He was a true knight in his own eyes, but he saw that the title did not matter to the Knight, it was the struggle against the darkness that drove him. No! Not Knight! Xander. From this day forth he would call him Xander as he requested. In time he hoped his new friend would rise above this conflict and see his true worth. For now he was a friend of Thor and let none dare say nay." What then friend Xander?"

Xander smiled and pointed to Clint, "What did you find?" he asked.

"The tracks, keep going, but no Loki."

"Our friend with them?" he pointed to the shaman's tracks.

"Oh yeah."

"Then what are we waiting for? We've got ourselves a chase. Let's nab these suckers Dano." He told Clint.

"Don't call me Dano." warned Clint.

"How about Jed. You look like a Jed."

"I'm telling Tasha." Clint threatened.

"Tasha's boy..." Xander avoided the swipe, "Yikes! Kidding. Sheesh, some guys can't take a joke."

"You're not that funny. Find a working sense of humor and then we'll talk."

Thor's heart lightened. He laughed as his comrades made light of this bleak situation. He would do no less.


	44. Chapter 44

**A Small Skirmish...**

****

10:56:27 A.M.  
June 13/ 2012  
Joutenhiem.

* * *

While taking a break Tony and the rest started asking Dawn questions about what had happened earlier.

She explained about her depleted energy reserves and what she was doing trying to replenish them with ambient energy.

She then explained about the cosmic ethereal network that was broadcast by the spear. After that she explained what happened when the spear almost burned her to a crisp when he flooded her body with cosmic energy.

"Xander mentioned something about this network, but at the time we were busy trying to come up with another way to get here," he waved his hand around, in a circle.

"It's a network for the spear to communicate with the wielders. But it's also a sensory web, or net used by the spear to predict threat assessments. During the invasion Xander told me that he had something like 360 vision, overlaid on top of his own. Like a transparent holographic 3D map of wherever the spear was able to reach."

"And the spear keeps increasing the range of its network?"

"Yeah. It's not just the spear that spreads the net Tony, it's the wielders too. That's why the spear slipped that strand of DNA into everyone. He's constantly feeding us energy, but it's usually just a trickle. For the wielders it's like a pipeline. Natasha?"

"I agree. It's like a pipeline with me. I don't know about the others, and what it was like before, but after the bonding and the change, whenever I'm in contact with IT, I'm never tired. 'Energy to burn.' After I'm filled to capacity, I slowly leak the rest of the energy into my environment."

"Do you have the same access to the sensory net like Xander?"

"Yeah. That too. That could come in handy when I get back to the field, if only there was a way to hide this..." she held up the hand still physically bonded to Gungnir.

"We're all soaking up all this energy?"

"Yes. You are all concentrated batteries, or dots of energy depending on how far you are away from my position. The other wielders show up like giant representations of themselves, no matter how far they are. He keeps close tabs on them. Plus there's now a constant presence of someone else, just outside, but still connected to the net that's watching."

"Are you telling me we're being watched?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if we are."

Tony didn't like that at all. "Any idea who?"

"Knowing the spear and where we are I'd have to say the original owner."

"Big 'Poppa Odin' himself? Is it two way communications channel or what?"

"I don't know Mr. Stark. I've been either blocked at home, or he didn't get access until we arrived here." Natasha shrugged. She wasn't happy with the situation and there was precious little she could do to remedy it at the current time, not with the resources on hand.

"And this energy is constantly getting pumped into the atmosphere?"

"Like a never ending fountain."

"Or a cosmic power plant..."

Natasha didn't like the look on Stark's face. She'd seen that looked before, it never ended well before.

****

11:12:11 A.M.  
June 13/ 2012  
Joutenhiem.

* * *

"Are we there yet?" Xander whispered from behind the cover of the windy ice cliff.

"Will you shut the fuck up." Clint hissed. "Sound carries from this height."

Xander raised his eyebrow, "Over all this howling wind?"

"All it takes is for the wind to blow in the other direction and they'll hear us."

"Nu uh! No way." he smirked at Clint, he pointed his thumb at Thor, "I saw him do something with the hammer, didn't you catch that?"

"No...I didn't. I still have problems with all this magic crap."

"Whatever. Dawn offered to tutor you, but no. You had to turn her down."

"knock it off. Now's not the time."

"Kay, but later..." he promised. He returned to silent communications. All that was mostly for Thor's benefit anyway. "What do you think?"

"Our target is definitely down there..." Clint signed and Xander agreed.

"I got twenty eight so far..."

"Ditto, but I think more will be on the way..." this time it was Clint who agreed.

"Take them now...or later?"

"I know I'm good for about a dozen if I start reducing their numbers from here, but the wild card is their shaman. He could tip the scales..." Clint studied the camp, looking for anything that they may have missed.

"I think Thor can take care of the rest, but my main job will be making sure that we take the shaman alive. He's the only one down there that could have pulled that disappearing act on our problem child."

"When do you want start?" Clint asked.

"As soon as I bring the big gun up to speed. When we start drop a few smoke arrows on the shaman's position. Magic needs line of sight to work most of the time, and if he's busy trying to remove the smoke, or get out of the zone, he'll be too busy to either run, or get tricky..."

"It's your play. You know this crap better than I do. Get Thor ready, we're go in sixty..." Clint began to select his arrows with care while Xander prepped Thor.

"Kay bro. We'll do death from above as soon as the arrows fly. Thor will start with those outside the smoke and I'll go for our boy." Xander pulled a light mask and goggles for his eyes and gave thumbs up.

That was the signal Thor was waiting for. He grabbed Xander and flew into the sky. Clint started to shoot arrows around the shaman's position.

The five arrows dropped around the shaman and exploded. Thick grey white smoke covered the area quickly. Two would have done the job, but he and Xander thought overkill was a dirty word. No such thing when a magic user was involved.

Thor dropped among the ones outside the zone and began to bash ice giants left and right. Xander had activated his Feather-fall tattoo and went straight for the shaman.

He was bouncing in and out of the smoke like a Mexican jumping bean looking for the target. His black sword in one hand and a net in the other. Where the net came from he didn't need, or for that matter want to know.

Clint loaded exploding arrows and went for head shots as he slid down the cliff. It was like Snowboarding only with shoes. He fired his arrows on the move.

Xander jumped out of the smoke with his target in hand, he kept jumping until he cleared the smoke zone.

The shaman was trying to get free from this flea, but Xander kept him off-balance by jerking the net this way and that. He was jumping towards Clint as fast as he could.

Clint redirected his shots from the general melee with Thor and the ice boys to covering Xander's mad dash.

When Thor saw that Xander had the target in hand he let loose with the full fury of the lightning at his beck and call.

Most fell to his wrath. The rest fell down to the archer's exploding arrows. When the battle was done, the only ice giant to survive was the shaman.

Thor walked menacingly back to his companions. "Stop your foolish struggles Mage. Or face my wrath."

The shaman was not a fool. Those unknowns who captured him might have fallen to his tricks, but not the thunderer. He stopped, "What do you want Odin spawn? Have you not done enough?"

"What I want foolish one is MY. BROTHER!"

He's not your brother. He's my nephew. Your father took him as hostage at the end of the war. I have sent him to safety. You will never see him again!" the shaman spat the last word. The icy spittle bounced off Thor's face.

Thor roared and swung his Hammer with all his might at the trapped shaman to crush his skull.

Both Xander and Clint jumped back twenty feet. The still trapped shaman came along for the ride in Xander's net.

"The fuck is wrong with you. Can't you see he's goading you into killing him, before we find where he sent them?"

Thor looked at Xander with battle madness still in his eyes. He was about to charge the Knight when the Knight asked, "Say. Is that a duck?"

The odd question stopped Thor is his tracks.

"What?" Thor turned around trying to see what the Knight was pointing at. He saw nothing, when turned back to see what foolishness the Knight was up to, he saw him smile.

"You with us now?" he asked.

Thor though about the foolishness that transpired and had to admit, that silly trick was worthy of Loki himself. When he thought about his brother, he calmed down further. Cooler heads would have to lead in this instance. He would let the knight and the archer have their way. "Aye. Make him talk fast Black Knight, or I will start by crushing his limbs, one by one."

"See what you just done. You got him all uppity, with the giving of the orders. That will just not do." Xander drew his sword and slashed the blade across the ice giant's forehead. He let the sword drink a bit of his life force, "He was the nice one. I'm not letting you off so easy, as to just crush your limbs, no, no, no. You know what I want. Where are they?"

The shaman trembled as his body struggled to handle the loss to his soul and magic just suffered, this monster was a thousand time worse than the thunderer. "I sent Loki and his wife to the 'Land of Timeless Mists.', my niece and nephew are beyond your reach." he coughed as his body was wracked with pain, trying to compensate for the loss of a sliver of his soul. He knew that if he survived, he would recover, but first he would have to survive and get away from these monsters.

"Loki and his wife? Niece and nephew? You married him to his own sister?" Xander was at a loss for words.

Clint started to laugh at the irony of it all. He hated Loki with a passion. Payback was a bitch, glad to see that it was happening to others and not just him. Others like a certain someone by the name of Loki.


	45. Chapter 45

**Looking for Options...**

****

11:39:14 A.M.  
June 13/ 2012  
Joutenhiem.

* * *

"You're still keeping an eye on them?" Tony asked Natasha one more time.

"Yes. Now stop bothering me while I'm working." her glare would have melted iron. Tony was oblivious. She gave it up. No point wasting a perfectly good glare on the obviously oblivious.

Dawn and Betty smiled and giggled at the way Natasha backed off win a huff.

That's when Faith walked into the lab, "What's so funny?" she asked.

"Aren't you supposed to be guarding?" Tony asked.

"Bobbi can handle it on her own. There's nothing around for miles. I just finished a quick run up and down the mountain. We're clear. Don't know where the giants idiots came from though, there's no sign of any kind of village, cave or shelter of any kind, and there's no way they can hide anything that size from me."

"Can you access the same sensory net that Natasha and Xander can?" Tony asked.

"Senso what? The hell's he on?" she asked Dawn.

"He means the 3D heads-up display map you got from the spear."

"Oh that. Yeah I can still see it; kinda neat too. Too bad I had to go through the shit he put me through to get the upgrade. Any way the mountain and the rest of the area around it are empty. What with the blizzard now gone I can see quite a ways, and like you said with the map I can get a fell even farther out."

'I wonder if I can access the same net?' he looked at Natasha and asked, "Are we still being monitored?"

Natasha concentrated for a moment as she ran a quick diagnostics routine she came up with, since the spear hijacked her body.

Connection: check.

Map: check.

Communications: she sent Xander a quick message, *How's your ETA?*

*Give us forty to thirty minutes.*

*Confirmed. ETA in thirty.*

*Hey! I said fort...* Natasha cut the connection. Check.

Energy Levels: check.

As she went through a very thorough list, which all checked out fine, she. And to the last option.

Eavesdropper: check.

"Yes. We are still under observation." she confirmed.

Tony thought about what he was going to ask and concluded that he really had no choice at this point, "Any chance I can get jacked in?"

"Sure just take the spear he's all yours." she tried to get rid of the intruder, but he didn't fall for it.

When Tony touched the spear, nothing happened.

"Why don't you try it without your gauntlets on."

"Uh, no! That's alright. Is there another way? Like maybe asking the Intelligence driving the spear if he can initiate 'Hands-Free' linkage?"

"Are you sure?" she asked, not because she was all that fond of the man, but because he controlled most of the material resources. He wasn't a resource she could squander frivolously, even of she wanted to.

"Yeah I'm sure. I don't see another choice at the moment. We need to establish a communications channel with Asgard. If 'Big Poppa' is watching, it's better to find out where we stand before we get there, besides that he might be able to help."

'I can't argue the point. We're drifting across hostile dimensions with little to no Intel at this point. Anything is better than nothing.'

"I. GOT IT!" Dawn shouted.

"Then keep it to yourself. I don't want it." Faith smirked at Dawn.

The younger woman flipped her the bird, but otherwise ignored her.

"What did you get Dawn?" Tony asked, since she was looking over JARVIS when she said that, it was pertinent.

"He didn't get hacked. He was enchanted."

"What like magic enchanted?"

"That's what I said. Weren't you listening? Boy you really do have a short attention span. Look here." she pointed at the time stamp where the data changed for JARVIS, "This is where the spell takes effect, and to top it all off there's still some residual energy left behind." she looked at JACOSTA and said, "I'm even willing to bet that he same thing happened to JACKIE as well. What do you say JACKIE, you want me to check you out?"

"Yes please. I need to know what happened."

"I know how you feel JACKIE. Don't worry; I'll make this painless, hop on. JARVIS get off, the lady needs a seat."

"Yes Mistress Dawn."

"Hey! Are you making fun of me?" she looked at Stark, "Congratulations Tony, you're the proud father of a bouncing baby android, now get your ass off the table already."

JARVIS closed up his chassis and pulled all his components back together. He sat up and got off the table as the pushy 'Mistress' commanded.

"Good luck!" he mock whispered in a loud voice.

JACOSTA giggled. It was nice of JARVIS to try and make her feel comfortable, but then that's what fathers were for. She was lucky to have two of them. JARVIS and Tony Stark.

"Oh we're so having words later, Mr. Mockitty pants. Alright JACKIE, lie down and open up..."

"I didn't know you swung that way little D." Faith smirked at Dawn's outraged expression.

"I'll get you later, slayer."

"Promises, promises. Just let me know before hand, I think Xander likes to watch." Faith laughed as Dawn sputtered. She also knew for a fact that Xander would like to watch.

"Dawn, please..." JACOSTA pleaded. She was getting nervous, she shouldn't be getting nervous, 'I blame mother for that.'

"Sorry JACKIE. Please bring up the display and areas affected..." when JACOSTA complied with the request Dawn spent a few minutes doing the same diagnostics spell she used on JARVIS, "Yep. Looks like she got hit with the same spell at about the same time. The only difference is the distance between the two. I took a 1.43 seconds longer to travel the distance from JACKIE to JARVIS." she showed her findings to Betty, Bruce and Tony. Faith and Natasha hanged back, not really interested in the how, but more in the how to stop it.

"Dawn. Is there anything you can do to protect me, us," she pointed at JARVIS as well, "from letting this happen again?" JACOSTA asked.

Dawn though about it for a minute and replied, "Yeah. I think I can do a quick ward, that'll stop this level of intrusion, but it'll take more time to give you a full protection suite against most precept ion and intrusion spells. JARVIS, can you please sit next to JACKIE and link hands with her please."

JARVIS moved to do just that as JACOSTA closed up her open chassis. When they were ready, Dawn said, "Could you please open up the faceplate, it's better to inscribe this on the inside, less chance of the wards getting damaged you see" she explained.

The androids complied and Dawn got to work.

Tony watched every step fascinated with the procedure. When the wards flared up with green energy, he was even more intrigued, 'There's something more to this magic. I need to get the basics down at the very least.'

**X Marks the spot.**

****

12:03:48 P.M.  
June 13/ 2012  
Joutenhiem.  
Avengers Base Camp.

* * *

Clint, Thor and Xander walked into the camp. Thor had the Ice Giant slung over his shoulder. He was not a happy puppy. He was stating to get ice burned from the contact. His godly stamina repaired the damage, but a pleasant experience it was not.

To top it off Clint and Xander had a punning contest going between them. It was mostly directed against the shaman. A bit of psychological warfare to soften him up.

The problem was that even after warning Thor about what they were going to do, Thor was just about ready to crush his companions with Mjolnir, just to stop the madness. He sighed heavily with the effort needed to control his temper. 'Those two are diabolical. I must be mad to stay in their company.' he sighed yet again.

Xander signed to Clint to stop. "Bro, we're driving our big gun to madness faster than the shaman. I say we stop, before we get stomped on, like the Hulk on a rampage."

"Yeah, I guess. And they call themselves gods. What a bunch of wimps.", he saw the camp and Bobbi waiting outside with an arrow nocked and ready to shoot, "Good girl." he said approvingly.

Xander saw where he was looking and had to agree, "Yeah. She's one of the best. Say Clint, did I ever tell you about this shovel I had..."

Clint groaned, "Now! You do the shovel speech now!"

"Thor's curiosity got he better of him. This was the first time since the battle that these two have stopped their nattering and disagreed on something, "What is this...shovel speech?"

"He's about to warn me that if I ever hurt Bobbi, he would do severe bodily harm to me is painful and agonizing ways."

"That I would believe. The monster is pure evil. To threaten a brother in arms, he's, he's evil I tell you. Thor you are an honorable warrior, a bastard to be sure, but an honorable warrior none the less. Could you not find the mercy in your heart to kill me. I'll tell you anything you wish to know, but I beg you, keep this evil madman away from me!"

"There, there mage. I understand your distress and never fear. I shall end your life properly when the time comes. Simply tell me what I need to know to reach my brother and I'll make sure he will never come near you with his soul-drinker."

"I will hold you to your word son of Odin!"

****

12:05:02 P.M.  
June 13/ 2012  
Joutenhiem.  
Avengers Base Camp.

* * *

"What kept you?" Natasha eyed the three and their captive as they entered the the camp.

"Not now!" Clint singed.

Natasha's left eyebrow rose in surprise. "What are you up to?" she signed back. She made sure that only Clint saw her.

"We're running a scam on the icicle." he signed back.

"Hey frosty. I want you to meet someone. This innocent young maiden is little Tasha. We're going to leave you in her care. Please don't give her a hard time, while you're her guest. Agreed? " Xander asked/ordered pleasantly.

Frost the shaman looked at the evil little man and shuddered. There was something just off about these Asgardians. They didn't behave he same way Thor and his folks did. He had been trying to overwhelm them with his mind tricks, but so far nothing. He doubted that they even felt his manipulations. He looked at the maiden holding the golden spear in her hand. He guessed that she was a Valkyrie of some sort. He tried his best efforts on her, and again, same results. Nothing. He was starting to grow frustrated with all these failures and setbacks. He should have been free by now, instead he was reduced to begging Thor for a merciful and clean death.

*THE MAGE IS TRYING TO INFLUENCE YOUR MIND!*

*I know. I can fell his whispers.*

"I would be happy to host our guest." she looked at Thor and asked, "Shouldn't he be free of the net?"

"Only after he has given his word that he would not attempt an escape." Thor looked at Frost who nodded his agreement. "I fear a nod is not enough for my companions mage, they would have your oath."

Frost cursed silently. He was going to try to escape while he was in this trusting maid's care, "I Frost give thee my parole to be on my best behavior Thor son of Odin!"

"Nay. Not just I Frost, but to the fair Spear Maiden as well." Thor was having trouble keeping the laughter inside. Natasha was a warrior maiden of the same caliber as Lady Sif and other Valkyrie he knew. The Archer and the Knight were correct. It would be a fine jest indeed to see this mage humbled by the Black Widow.

Frost bit his tongue at the insult he was about to hurl, against the small, but beautiful girl. The evil was was looking at him is such a way that was not welcome in the least. He have his oath again, this time to the Spear Maiden. Again he tried one more time to sway her before he gave his word, and again his best efforts were for nought. He sighed in defeat. There was little he could do to gain his freedom at this point. His people treated him and his family like dirt and these Asgardian Kin were proving more troublesome than Thor and his people.

*HE TRIED AGAIN JUST BEFORE HE GAVE HIS WORD! DESTROY HIM BEFORE HE BETRAYS YOU!*

*Not just yet. Until he breaks his word, I will hold to the agreement. I do not like to waste resources. We will see what type of resource he falls under.*

*I HAVE MADE THE CORRECT CHOICE WHEN I SWITCHED WIELDERS!*

Natasha ignored the spear and continued to play her new role, she asked Frost the shaman many innocent questions as she took him to one of the nano tech habitats.

Thor Clint and Xander walked into the makeshift lab. Xander saw Dawn as she was putting the final touches on a protection ward.

"Where's the rest?" he asked.

"On the inside." she opened the faceplate, and showed him her work.

"Neat. How come the rest of the ward's on the outside?"

"I wanted to be able to change the variables of the ward circle without having to expose their insides, just in case..."

"Food thinking." he nodded approvingly.

Dawn beamed at the compliment, "If there was only a way to etch it properly..."

"How about this?" JACOSTA raised rearranged the nano tech armor and copied the inner wards.

"That'll do..." Dawn's surprise got a smile from Xander. He thought that Dawn should be more careful, and the more surprises she encountered the stronger the reminder that not all surprises are of the good.

"This is will work as a magical firewall?" Tony asked.

"Yes. In fact I managed to link the ward to their software protection suite. They'll even give them an edge against the normal attacks they're familiar, and unfamiliar with."

"What will it take to get some lessons out of you?" he joked.

"How about a couple of those nano tech cubes? They're seriously cool."

"Done. When we have time I want to start on those lessons. JACOSTA give..."

"JACKIE." JACOSTA corrected.

"Seriously? JACKIE?" Tony didn't expect her to want to start developing her identity for a while yet.

"Yes. I like JACKIE. It's more personal." she smiled at Dawn who encouraged her by smiling back.

"Alright then. JACKIE, no. Jackie it is. How about you JARVIS?"

"I'm quite happy being JARVIS. Thank you for he offer sir, but I like the way I am just fine."

"Good to know. Jackie could you please give Dawn a couple of cubes please?"

"Yes sir." Jackie gave the cubes to Dawn.

"Thanks Jackie." she smiled at the newly emerging personality. Here you go Xander. She gave him one while she put away the other.

Xander put away his cube, where he generally put away everything. Into the dimensional pocket that was another birthday gift from Willow. This one was one of her best.

"So. Tell me about our prisoner?" Tony asked Xander.

"He's Loki's uncle if you can believe it, and the uncle of the girl that kidnapped him as well. Since the girl succeeded in her mission, their chief made her marry her own cousin, because he was one of their own. The funny thing is that Loki was still unconscious when the chief made that decision, he also. Smushed them to a place called the 'Land of Timeless Mists' or something along those lines. The kicker is that you can't get here from here." Xander explained.

"Then how did the newlyweds get to this place?"

"That's just it Tony. We're still trying to work that out with the shaman when we made it back to camp. I figure it some kind of a teleportation technique. Just not sure what type."

"Can you figure it out Dawn?" Tony asked the expert in this field.

"Maybe. I need to be on the spot the spell took place to check it out...," she asked Xander, "Do you still know where that is?"

"Yeah I know."

"You can track it back that well. Wouldn't the weather have removed the tracks by now?" Tony asked.

Clint laughed.

"Wanna share sight the rest of the class Clint?"

"Nah. I'll leave that to Xander." he laughed some more.

"What's up with chuckles?"

"I guess he was amused by the way I marked the spot." Xander smirked at Clint.

"How did he..." Tony began, but he was interrupted.

"Eww Harris you didn't?" Faith wrinkled her nose in disgust. Dawn quickly caught on. So did Bobbi on Clint's arm.

"What am I missing?" Ton asked Bruce.

"Hey don't look at me. I was with you." Bruce raised his hands and backed away from Xander.

"He's a dog." Faith told Tony.

"And dogs...Ohhhh!" Tony got it. Xander posed on, or near the spot. His nose wrinkled involuntarily.

"Whatever." Xander sniffed. "No respect for the classics."


	46. Chapter 46

**The Spot!**

****

01:09:43 P.M.  
June 13/ 2012  
Joutenhiem.  
Destroyed Ice Giants Camp.

* * *

"Faith stepped out of the hovering sled. She looked at Tony and asked, "Is there no toy you can't build?"

"Nope. Why? Do you want to play with my toy chest?" Tony wiggled his eye brows.

"Ewwww! Old man drool." Dawn couldn't control the full body shiver that went through her.

Tony stopped in mid-step as he looked at Xander and asked, "Aw come on. I can't be that old?"

"You're not. It's just that she developed an allergy to old people." Xander quoted the old people reference.

"Why? What could have caused that severe a reaction?"

"Most of her sister's boyfriends counted their birthdays in the century marks, not years. Whenever she sees someone who's a least a couple of decades older make with the flirty she has a reaction." Xander shrugged to indicate that there was nothing he could do to change it and had learned to live with it, and simply ignored it when it happened.

"How come she's reacting so badly now?"

"Tony if you weren't as self-absorbed as you usually are you'd have noticed. Hell Tasha smirked every time you and Faith did the flirty thing."

"What about the Bruce and Faith thing?"

"Bruce!" Xander shouted.

"Yo!"

"How old are you?"

"Why you asking Xander? And no, I'm not telling you."

"Will you tell me?" Tony asked.

"Nope. I don't swing that way."

"It's okay. I already know how old you are. Although I must say I'm hurt that you wouldn't share that confide..."

"Ah knock it off ya ham." Bruce laughed at Tony mock-hurt look.

"What brought this on all of a sudden?"

"Xander's trying to make a point and he's using your age to do it."

Bruce debated getting sucked into the meaningless drivel that sometimes came out of Xander, 'Nope. I don't want, or need to know.'

"Anyway he's..."

Tony I know how old he is. And that's the point. There's less than a decade between Faith and Bruce. You? You're just old as far as Dawn's concerned."

"But not Faith..."

Xander agreed, "But not Faith."

The rest of the Avengers gathered around the yellow spot.

"Good grief. You really stained the glass."

Faith laughed and Dawn Ewwwd. 'How the hell do I brake him out this habit. I so don't need him marking his territory at home.' Dawn's nose wrinkled involuntarily.

Natasha subtly guided Frost to the spot. "and you say you sent them on their journey from this spot?"

"Ye spear maiden. I did. It was the only thing I could do for them. Otherwise the chieftain would have had slain during the journey. My family is hated. We are still blamed for the defeat we suffered during the war. We were the kings and generals. Now, now we are less than nothing in the eyes of our people."

"You brought such shame upon yourselves mage. You could have left fabled Asgard alone, but you chose to start a war with us instead." Thor declared.

"What choice did we have. You who lived in the lap of untold wealth and luxury, and we who had to adapt to the harshest of environments just to survive. Your kind never gives thoughts to those less fortunate than you..."

"Frost...Now is not the time. If we are to retrieve your kin, we must work together." Natasha continued to use the velvet glove treatment with the ice giant. So far it had borne fruit. She would continue to do so until Frost became reluctant to share any more of his knowledge. So far she couldn't get the old one to shut up. With his isolation from his people he was starved for any kind of positive attention. When his was done she would have to see about removing him gently. She did not need an overgrown puppy following her around. That was Clint's job.

"Let's get started people I didn't want to grow roots on this particular spot." Tony let a bit of his distaste show through. Even now he could still smell Xander's urine. 'Damn sharp sense of smell.'

**Finding Loki**

Finding Loki

Posted Raw

Disclaimer: I don't own either the Buffy verse or the Marvel verse. See previous disclaimers.

I would like to thank my Betas MissE and Tammin

Anyone who wants to see something in particular drop me an email at rafmere , or a private review.

Thanks again to everyone. Your reviews have inspired me to go beyond the movie.

****

01:09:43 P.M.  
June 13/ 2012  
Joutenhiem.  
Destroyed Ice Giants Camp.

* * *

"Where do you want to start?" Tony asked Dawn.

"Right there..." Dawn pointed at the damn spot.

"Alright places everybody...are you sure this will work?" Dawn glared at Tony, "just asking." Tony raises his hands in surrender and backed away from the glare of death.

"Dawnie relax. You'll do fine." Xander placed his hand on her right shoulder, while Faith did the same on her left.

"What's going to happen?" Betty asked Bruce.

"First Dawn concentrates on Loki's signature. Now that it's in the portal machine's memory, it's just a matter of matching the code. The theory is that she'll be able to home in on him, where ever he might be." he pointed at the spot and continued, "It helps that they're starting from the same place he left. Xander and Faith slowly funnel their energy into Dawn to give her the constant energy she'll need to keep the portal open so that they can follow."

"What about them?" she pointed with her chin at Bobbi and Clint.

"Security. JACKIE will be along just in case a medical emergency comes up. After they step through, the three will of them will pretty much be drained. No idea what they'll meet on the other side. So we're taking all precautionary measures."

"And then?"

"And then we wait here until they come back."

"That simple?"

"Betty there's nothing simple about any of it. A simple mistake anywhere and they could wind up anywhere from here to the beginning of creation, or the end of it."

"Then why are they chasing after him like that. Loki is a criminal after all. Why not cut our loses?"

"Politics. That's my take on it anyway."

"What politics. We're in the middle of nowhere, at the ass end of the universe."

Bruce knew that Betty grew up on army bases throughout the world with her parents. She could use a colorful vocabulary when she wanted. "What did you think happened during the invasion?" he asked her.

"We were invaded; by Aliens from outer space."

"As far as that goes sure. But what that did was expose us to the universe at large. We're on our own and unprepared in any real meaningful way. Back home an arms build-up like you've never ever seen or heard of in the history of our planet is currently underway and mostly in secret. What the public will see will be the tip of the iceberg. Fury is going to use the New avengers and whatever secret groups and super soldiers he develops under every ones radar; to razzel-dazzle the man on the street and probably in the one Whitehouse to the real arms build-up."

"That's a pretty cynical view of the world you've got their hon."

"It would be, if it wasn't backed up by evidence. You didn't see the weapons they were building. That Phase 2 stuff they've got going is just the test version, they weren't ready to use them, they shouldn't have used them, but their hand was forced I guess. By now I expect Phase 3 and is in production and Phases 4 and 5 are probably in R&D."

"You saw all this..."

"Yeah I saw all that. Stark's AI JARVIS decrypted the files when we were on that flying monstrosity of theirs, and best guess-estimate with the evidence we've uncovered that's where we're heading."

"That still doesn't tell me about the politics angle."

"Honey, when the next invasion from space comes, and believe me it will, who are our allies?" he asked.

"..." Betty thought hard about that one. She drew a blank, until her gaze fell on Thor and then she looked to where Natasha and her pet Ice Giants were standing. The ice Giant was carefully memorizing everything that Dawn and the group were doing. "Thor's people?"

"Yeah. Thor's people. We'll see what we see when we get there, and we'd better have the that Loony Toon with us when we meet up with them."

"Ah." she now saw and understood exactly why they were going to all that trouble. Allies. No, not allies, but the hope of an alliance.

"I'm ready." Dawn told Tony.

"Then if you're ready, get gone already." he smirked.

"You're a billionaire genius, and that's the best you can come up with? Please." she rolled her eyes but finished her prep and opened the portal. "Hurry I can't keep this open for long." the strain was already starting to get to her and she barely started.

Just before Xander stepped through he glanced up and said, "The hell is that?"

"What?" asked Faith.

"Clint?"

"Yeah I see 'em. Sure are a lot of the suckers."

"WHAT?" Faith shouted.

****

Land Of Timeless Mists.

* * *

"Ice Giants. And a lot of them." he told her as the last of them stepped through the portal and into the Land of Timeless Mists.

"SHIT!" was all she could say as the portal closed behind them. She Harris and Dawn sagged to the ground together. She was spent. She felt like she's been fighting for her life night and day for a whole week straight with sleep or rest. she was that drained.

All three went into a deep sleep right where they fell.

"Jackie, could you please set up one of those cube habitats. I don't think we're going anywhere for a while." Clint asked her.

"Yes sir, right away."


End file.
